1945
by starkasticavenger5678
Summary: Loki's back and worse than before. He realized each Avenger has a different weakness. Of course Steve and Tony were the hardest to figure out. Now Steve is facing his demons in his mind while Tony faces his main demon in person. (I don't know how to do summaries haha. I don't want to give to much away.)
1. Doubt

Loki was back at it again. The team had been enjoying their recovery after the battle with Ultron, when Loki had burst through the wall. So much for a quiet night in.

With a wave of Loki's hand Thor was flung through the wall of Stark (or Avengers) Tower. Natasha flipped off a table, aiming a powerful kick at the God, only to have a green mist stop her in mid air. She stayed paused in her pose, still ready to kick. Behind her Clint kicked the same table she jumped off of, on it's side to use as cover. Multiple arrows flew through the air at Loki. He held out his hand and the arrows froze then changed direction, speeding towards Clint. Normally anyone of the Avengers would have found it funny once the arrows pinned Clint to a wall through his clothes, like you'd see in a cartoon. At this moment the only one laughing was Loki as he turned his attention to Bruce who was avoiding all conflict to prevent the Hulk making an appearance. Surprisingly, Loki settled on not making Bruce mad. Instead he snapped his fingers and Bruce fell over in a deep sleep.

With a chuckle Loki dogged Steve's shield as it flew by the tricksters face.

"That's enough, Loki. Why are you here?" Steve used his Captain America voice as he caught his shield.

"Why, I'm giving you that war you can't live without." Loki smirked.

"Wow. Out of one liners? If my memory serves me correctly, which it does, you've said something like that before." Tony raised a repulsor covered arm, waiting to fire.

"Now, answer the question." Steve growled.

"Fine. I might as well, seeing as there will be no one to stop me once I'm done here." Loki lifted his chin as he spoke.

"You've said that before. Look what happened." Tony smirked behind his Iron Man mask.

Loki continued, ignoring Tony. "You see, I realized that the only way to destroy you was to stop you individually and not as a whole. You might be a team, but each of you can be stopped in different ways. With your precious Banner asleep, he can't render me helpless. The Widow in Black's acrobatics have gotten her stuck. My brother may come back but him I can handle. He never wanted to hurt me, so I can use that to my advantage. Hawk Man or whatever, his trapped by his only weapon-"

"Hawkeye!" Clint interrupted as he struggled with the magically stuck arrows.

Loki glared before he continued. "You two were the hardest to figure out. For the Captain, I realized you won't stop as long as you have hope. Luckily that's an easy fix."

Loki's hands went green along with Steve's eyes. Steve let out a loud scream as he dug his fingers into his head. Memory after memory of his past flashed by his eyes. All the bad memories seemed to be amplified. All the guilt he felt then, came rushing back now only ten times worse. Tears rolled down his face as he continued to scream.

"No! Stop!" Tony screamed as he shot a repulsor blast at Loki. The blast of energy went straight through Loki and destroyed a shelf.

Suddenly, Steve stopped screaming. He lowered his shaking hands as his face went blank. He slowly sat down on the floor legs crossed, and stared ahead as if nothing around him existed.

"See. Easy fix." Loki laughed.

"What did you do to him?" Tony fought the urge to fall to Steve's side and hug him.

Tony would never admit that his heart would beat a little faster when Steve was around. Or his breath would get caught in his throat when their skin brushed each other. Or that his stomach did flips when he could smell the shampoo Steve used. He'd never admit that. Not even to himself. So now, seeing Steve, in this depressed state, made him want to cry. He wanted to scream as he punched a hole into Loki's head, but instead he stood there and waited for his chance to fire his repulsor again.

"I wouldn't worry about him. You see I figured out that no matter what I do to you, technology will always help you stop me. You're already a broken man, and there's no fun in having you kill yourself. So I figured, since taking the technology out of this world is too difficult, what with another mortal waiting to make more in an instant, so I'll just have to remove you from the technology." Loki smirked as he lifted his hands. Green mist wrapped around Tony and lifted him into the air. Piece by piece his suit came apart and fell to the floor while he stayed floating.

"Loki you won't get away with this. We will stop you!" Tony yelled, venom dripping from his voice.

"How can you stop me this time, when you aren't even in this time anymore?" Loki raised an eyebrow as he laughed.

Tony's eyes went wide as everything around him went black.

" _Are you okay?"_

Pain flooded Tony's spine. He knew he fell on the ground hard but he wasn'tsure where he fell.

" _Sir? Wake up! Please be okay.."_

The concerned voice grew louder as Tony slowly gained consciousness. He could feel hands on his chest as the pushed down. Then he felt pressure on his mouth and air fill his lungs.

" _Come on, wake up!"_

' _That voice sounds familiar.'_

The same hands pushed down on his chest again and again. Followed by more air being blown into his body.

With a deep breath in, Tony's eyes flew open. The took a minute to focus on his surroundings, but once they did he realized he was outside. The sky above him was gray with rain clouds. Tony turned his head on its side and noticed he was laying in grass. His breath began to calm down to a normal pace. Then it picked up again when he heard a voice.

"You scared me there for a second."

Tony jumped as he spun his head around to see who was with him. His eyebrow raised at the sight.

"Are you okay?" Blue eyes stared at Tony with concern.

Tony could only stare back. Inches in front of him was Steve Rogers, face covered in dirt, wearing a military uniform of some sorts. For a second, Tony had forgotten that he was asked a question.

"Uhhh.. yes?" Tony licked his lips and made a face at the strange taste he got.

"Did you.. did you kiss me?" Tony's heart jumped at the thought.

Steve laughed. "Technically I helped save your life. It wasn't anything like that I swear."

"Oh.. well good. Um why are you wearing a uniform?" Tony raised an eyebrow hoping Steve didn't notice the blush that crept onto Tony's face.

"Well I mean we are at a military base. Why are you here and wearing…" Steve squinted at Tony's outfit. "What's ACDC?"

Tony looked down at his shirt. "Uhh it means… Anthony's Computer Design Company." Tony internally winced at his words.

Steve's eyes went wide. "Whoa so you're like good with technology?"

"Well, something like that." Tony smirked. He could feel his brain hurt as he pretended to smile.

"Well, I'll assume that means your name is Anthony." Steve smiled as he helped Tony stand.

Tony nodded even though he was still confused.

"I'm Steve. Steve Rogers." Tony awkwardly shook Steve's hand.

"So uh, Steve… my mind's a little foggy. Could you tell me what year is this?" Tony grinned, hoping he didn't look insane even though, to him, Steve looked insane. Why was he in military clothes? Why didn't he recognize Tony? So many questions buzzed in Tony's mind.

"Your fall must have been harder than I thought. It's 1945." Steve laughed again.

Tony nodded. "That's cool. Yea great."

Tony smiled before he fainted.

Bucky came running up to his best friend, smile falling, as he noticed an unconscious man in Steve's arms.

"Where did he come from?" Bucky eyed Tony's clothes with a look of confusion.

"Not to sure. I noticed him unconscious on the ground back there. When he woke up he asked what year it was and fainted. I'm going to take him to Howard and see if he can help." Steve shrugged his shoulders as best as he could while Tony was in his arms.

Bucky tilted his head to look at Tony more. "Ya know, he reminds me of Howard. But, I've only seen him a few times so who am I kidding." Steve laughed at his friend's words.

"You're kind of right. That's so weird. Maybe Howard will be able to help more than I thought." Steve looked down at Tony with a smile on his face.

Bucky frowned. "I can only assume Colonel Phillips was pissed when you went to rescue us, he's not going to like you bringing a possible spy into our base."

"That's why I'm going to Stark, not Phillips." Steve raised an eyebrow at Bucky as he spoke.

"I hope you know what you're doing." Bucky sighed as he shook his head and followed Steve.

Tony sat up abruptly, eyes wide and bloodshot, breathing forced as his hands reached reached for the arc reactor he no longer had. His face twisted at his surroundings. It looked like a lab, almost reminded him of his own just several years behind on development. He noticed that he was sitting on a table, slowly he tried to stand up when a voice came from behind him.

"Nightmares? I didn't take you for a guy with bad dreams."

Tony snapped his head to look behind him. His heart skipped a beat when he saw it was Steve.

"Where are we? Where are the others?" Tony asked, ignoring Steve's statement, as his eyes continued to look around.

"Others? I didn't see anyone else with you. Are you sure you're okay?" Steve took a few steps closer.

"So our conversation earlier, where I sounded insane for asking the year, wasn't a dream?" Tony bit his lip as he waited for Steve to answer.

"No it wasn't." Steve missed the face Tony made as Howard Stark walked in the room.

"I see our new friend is awake." Howard smiled at Tony.

Tony felt his limbs go numb. There he was. His father. Unaware that his own son was right there in front of him. Tony felt his heartbeat pick up speed as he realized Howard would never smile at him if he knew who he was. It took all of Tony's mental strength not to jump up and yell at Howard. With a deep breath in Tony pushed his anger down and smiled back.

"Your Howard Stark? I can't believe I'm actually meeting you." Tony forced his smile even more.

"The pleasures all mine, my friend." Howard held out his hand and waited for Tony to shake it.

With a flare of anger Tony smiled again and took Howard's hand. "Anthony. Anthony.. Edward." Tony winced internally. He felt stupid for using his middle name as his last name, but if they found out he wasn't from this time, all hell would break loose.

"Hm might I say, I rather like that name." Howard beamed at Tony, causing his chest to tighten with anger.

Steve stepped forward again. "Howard, I was hoping you could help. You see something doesn't seem right with him. He asked me what _year_ it was. I mean that's insane."

"You know I am right here. I can hear everything you just said, Capsicle." Tony's eyes went wide as he realized what he said.

"Uh... Capsicle?" Steve raised an eyebrow at Tony.

Tony felt his face heat up. "Sorry, you just look like a friend of mine and that's what we call him."

Howard pulled Steve aside. "You're definitely right. I'll see what I can do."

"I told you, it's complicated."

Hours had gone by and Tony was still trying to tell Steve and Howard that his situation wasn't going to make sense to them.

"Anthony, just tell us where you are from. Or tell us anything so we can help. You said you needed to get home, so who else lives there? Your parents?" Howard asked with an annoyed look on his face.

Tony held back the growl in his throat. He had seen that look one too many times and he hated it. "Trust me, my parents aren't there." Tony rolled his eyes.

"Tell me this then. Why did you faint when I told you what year it was? Or why are you dressed like that? Or better yet how in the hell did you even get here?" Steve's face had a red tint to it as he spoke.

"I don't know! One minute I was back home fighting Loki with the team, and the next thing I know I wake up here. I can only assume Loki did something-"

Tony's thoughts interrupted him as he remembered Loki's words.

' _How can you stop me this time, when you aren't even in this time anymore?'_

"Son of a bitch.." Tony mumbled to himself.

"What is it Anthony? Who is Loki? What did he do to you?" Howard leaned forward as he questioned Tony.

"If I told you.. you wouldn't believe me. It's not exactly normal."

Steve smiled, causing Tony's heart to flutter and his face to go red. Howard raised an eyebrow at Tony as a small smirk grew on his face.

"Anthony, trust me when I say, normal isn't exactly normal itself around here."

Tony sighed. "Well.. I'll start with the easy part. Where I come from, the year is 2016… and I'm a superhero."


	2. Connect

Laughter was not expected. Tony felt his face grow red from embarrassment which was weird because he was Tony Stark, he didn't get embarrassed. Yet standing here, in his father's lab, while Steve and Howard laughed at him only made him feel uncomfortable. Tony shifted his weight between his feet as he waited for them to stop.

"Captain, I'm sorry I doubted you. You were right. He's nuts." Howard laughed as he held onto his ribs.

Tony was fuming. "Enough!" He yelled as he slammed a fist on the table.

"Laugh all you want, I can prove it." Tony growled as he looked at the watch Loki didn't realize was more than a watch. He tapped the face of it and it lit up blue.

" _Hello Sir. How can I assist you?"_

FRIDAY'S voice echoed through the room. Steve jumped back, hands clenched into fists, as if he was ready to fight. Howard simply tilted his head to the side at the technology.

Tony shrugged his shoulders. "I'm probably messing up several laws of the spacetime continuum or whatever, but I really couldn't care less. I need your help. My friend is in trouble. Well all of them are, and if I don't get back to help the whole world will be in trouble too."

"Anthony.. this is impressive. Did you make this yourself?" Howard took a step forward as he observed Tony's watch.

Tony felt as lump swell up in his throat as Howard praised his work for the first time ever. He wanted to cry. He wanted to scream. Instead he nodded.

' _Smile, listen, agree…'_

"You should have met JARVIS. But uh, he's not exactly an AI anymore." Tony mentally smacked himself for having a normal conversation with 'dear old dad.'

Howard shot Tony a confused look at the name Jarvis. Before he could speak, Steve joined in.

"So am I correct in assuming that your shirt doesn't mean what you said it means?"

Tony laughed. "Out of all the possible questions you could have, you ask that one?"

Steve's face went red as he awkwardly laughed and scratched the back of his neck. "I guess so. I'm not sure I'd understand the answers to any of the other questions."

Tony smiled at Steve. This Steve was definitely different than the Steve he knew. Of course he'd be different. He hadn't lost Bucky yet. He hadn't been frozen for seventy years. He hadn't lost everything that he cared about yet, and Tony had to hold back words that wanted to spill out. The words that would stop Steve from going after Red Skull. But Tony knew he shouldn't change the past. (Well more than he already had.) Others could say he was being selfish by not telling Steve because part of him was selfish. The genius didn't want to imagine a future without Captain America fighting by his side. No matter how much Tony liked this sweet, fun, and shy Steve the billionaire had fallen in love with the serious and guarded hero that Steve had become. Not that Tony would admit that out loud.

Howard coughed into his hand, causing Tony to realize that him and Steve had been staring at each other. Tony felt his face grow red as he shook his head and ran his hand through his hair.

"Right. Uh we should probably figure out how to get me home."

"Sounds like a plan, Anthony." Howard smiled.

"I can't believe you fell for that guys bullshit. I mean really Steve. The _future_? There's no way." Bucky waved his arms around as he spoke.

"Look, Howard believes him. Therefore I do too." Steve lifted his chin as he glared at Bucky.

Bucky slowly tilted his head as he stared at Steve. Then, out of nowhere, he started to laugh causing Steve to jump.

"Oh my God! How did I not see this sooner? You like the guy."

Steve's face went red as his mouth fell open.

"That's ridiculous. I've only talked to him like once. There's no way I'd like someone like him. He's… weird. Besides it's not exactly ideal for a man to like another man…" Steve looked down as he mumbled the last sentence.

Bucky clapped his hand in Steve's back. "It's not uncommon for same gender romances. Sure, a lot of people are against it, but majority of those people keep quiet."

"I guess you're right. But that doesn't mean I like him. Like I said we just met." Steve laughed a nervous laugh.

"Mhm. Okay, I believe you." Bucky smirked. "Oh look, here comes Anthony."

Instantly, Steve stood up straighter, raised his chin, and ran his hand through his hair to make sure it was neat. Bucky started laughing, nearly falling over at the sight.

"I can't believe it! You like him! You like him! You really really like him!" Bucky said in a sing song voice.

"Don't make me get my shield." Steve glared at his friend.

"Why, you need some protection for you and Anthony tonight?" Bucky grinned a mischievous grin, earning him a smack to the back of his head.

"What? Shields protect people!"

"We both know that's not what you meant." Steve couldn't hide the blush that creeped onto his face.

The two friends continued walking towards the tent they slept in, laughing at each other's jokes the whole way.

Tony was stuck sitting with Howard, for three hours now. All that time he spent as a kid wishing he could have one minute of his fathers time seemed like a stupid wish now. To many emotions had been pushed down. To many memories had been ignored. All Tony had left was his anger towards the man in front of him.

' _What is and always will be my greatest creation...is you.'_

Tony scoffed at the words Howard would eventually say to him. Even though it was in a video and not to his face.

' _Say that to my face. I dare you."_ Tony thought as he glared at Howard, who was welding sheets of metal together.

"I think I have a idea." Tony yelled over the sound of Howard working, pretending he hadn't been thinking negatively about the man.

"I need what the Red Skull has, the Tesseract, if I can use it's power to create a portal I might be able to use it to get home with a few technological advancements."

"I was going to ask how you know what Red Skull is using, but I'll just accept that it's because you're from the future. Add that to the proof file. Well if you're right, considering no one knows what he has yet. I guess we'll see later on." Howard was speaking to himself more. Tony patiently waited since he understood what Howard was doing, on account that he did the same thing sometimes.

Eventually Howard nodded as he removed a pair of goggles from over his eyes, deciding to change the subject to a less serious topic. "So, am I right when I guess that Captain Rogers is around in your time?"

Tony froze. "Uh, I'm not sure-"

"Anthony, don't act like you're innocent. I understand you don't want to mess up the future, but trust me when I say, I've gone through weirder things than this."

"I highly doubt that." Tony said flatly.

"It doesn't matter. What matters is I can't help you without knowing all the details. You know, as well as I do, how science works." Howard leaned back onto a table and crossed his arms.

"Fine, I'll tell you everything you _need_ to know." Tony rolled his eyes.

"Fair enough. It just seems to make sense, because I see the way you look at him." Howard continued, earning an annoyed groan from Tony. "Like you've known him for a long time. I can't imagine you'd want to leave him as quickly as you are trying to, unless you know you'll see him again." Howard raised an eyebrow as he smirked at Tony.

"The way I look at him isn't important. What is important is that I get home. People are counting on me and I can't waste time on-"

"Love?"

Tony felt his jaw lock as he spun around to glare at Howard.

"I do not love him. We just met." Tony lied. Twice even though he didn't want to admit it.

"Look, I'm just trying to help. I know you-"

"You don't know anything about me. You never did and never will. You can pretend to care but I know it's all an act." Tony yelled. He was tired of how nice Howard was to him now, when he didn't know who he was and like always he couldn't keep his mouth shut. His breathing became heavy as the weight of what he said sunk in.

"Anthony… you and I meet later on. Don't we?" Howard whispered.

Tony answered by looking away and crossing his arms.

"Please tell me I wasn't a lover who wronged you." Howard questioned.

Tony nearly fell over as he registered Howard's words. It took all of his strength to hold down the bile in his stomach that threatened to make an appearance.

"Holy shit. No. No way in hell. God, I'm going to puke. That would never happen. Ever!" Tony finally stated.

Howard walked forward and laughed. "Thank God. Sorry Anthony, I just couldn't see that happening. Sure you got a decent look to you, but you're a little weird."

"Good. That should never ever ever _ever_ happen." Tony still felt queasy as he stood up straight.

"Well what ever it is I eventually do wrong, I promise I'm extremely sorry. I will do my best to not hurt you once we meet." Howard grabed Tony's shoulder as he spoke. With a small smile he wrapped his arms around Tony and hugged him.

Tony's breath caught in his throat. His eyes went wide and he felt his stomach twist. His father was actually _hugging_ him. Tony wanted to cry, but of course like always, he ignored the feeling and decided to pretend the hug was a normal thing. With shaky hands he slowly tried to return the gesture.

Steve walked in before he could.

"Oh. I didn't… sorry." Steve looked at the floor, face covered in a deep shade of red.

Tony tripped as he ran over to Steve. "Wait, Steve. I swear it's-"

"So do you two.. fondue?" Steve blushed a deeper color as he blurted out words.

Tony had to fight the laugh that crawled up his throat.

"Steve, I told you, that's just cheese and bread. But, no we don't. It turns out we meet again in my future and his past. I assumed it doesn't go well so I hugged him. That's all." Howard informed Steve calmly.

"Oh. Okay." Steve laughed a forced laugh.

Before Steve could walk away, Tony reached forward and grabbed his wrist.

"Wait. Why would you care if something was going on? I mean the thought of something going in between Howard and I is repulsive. I can't say why but trust me it's not possible." Tony laughed a nervous laugh.

Steve waited to answer. Like he was debating if he should speak at all. With a shaky breath in, he closed his eyes and forced the words to come out.

"I don't know. I'll admit that I've seen plenty of attractive guys, but there's something different about you. It's probably nothing, but for some reason I just know I can count on you. And the way you care for your friends is incredible. But, none of that matters. You'll be leaving soon, and I'll- we'll never see you again." Steve mumbled, making it hard for Tony to hear even though he heard every word.

Minutes went by before anyone spoke. Tony was to stunned to speak and Steve was beginning to feel stupid for admitting a crush on someone he just met, because that's all it was. A crush. Right?

"Congratulations Captain. You've rendered Anthony speechless. I've been trying to for hours." Howard smiled.

"Rude." Tony glared at his father.

Steve finally smiled. "Uh, so it's kind of weird that I said all of that huh?"

"What was it you said? Normal isn't exactly normal around here? You should listen to your own words, Cap." Tony grinned.

Steve shook his head at the nickname. He had already gotten used to it even though it was only the second day Tony's been here. The two continued to smile at each other until Tony's mind reminded him of something.

"Steve wait til you see what we've been working on." Tony jumped towards the table Howard was leaning on.

"Have you guys gotten _any_ sleep?" Steve laughed even with a hint of concern in his voice.

"Of course we have." Howard tilted his head to the side, looking at Steve like he was insane for asking that question.

Tony smiled sheepishly. "Well.. _you_ have. I can't sleep to be honest."

Before anyone could say anything, Tony spun around with a, less fashionable, repulsor on his arm and shot a bright light from his hand. The table he shot was destroyed instantly.

Steve jumped and took cover behind his arms while Howard cheered and punched the air.

"Brilliant Anthony! And you made several of these in your time?" Howard asked, excitement oozing out of his voice.

"Yea, I'm definitely glad I had FRIDAY with me. Without her I wouldn't have been able to scan and find everything I needed to make an old fashion one." Tony nodded and then laughed once he saw Steve's face.

"I can't believe I got to see the great Captain America scared of my weapons. Normally you talk about how you could take me down with ease." Tony laughter continued.

"What do you mean by that. Anthony, do we meet again too?" Steve stood up with hope in his eyes.

Tony felt his throat tighten. Hope was what Loki had stolen from Steve in the future. It was then Tony realized he didn't have a plan for stopping Loki, except for the one repulsor he had. He didn't know how to wake up Bruce or get Natasha free from her floating trap. He assumed he could get Clint down eventually and Thor would be fighting Loki right now, but when it came to Steve, Tony had no idea how to bring back his hope. In that moment Tony realized that this moment, right now, was probably the last time he saw Steve with hope in his eyes.

"Uh I can't exactly tell you everything about the future." Tony laughed nervously.

"I'll take that as a yes." Steve smiled.

"Jesus Steve, past you is really difficult sometimes." Tony flinched as he realized what he said.

Steve laughed. "I knew it. I will get to see you again! Wait won't that mean I'm old?"

"You do realize how old I am right? I never said when we meet so who knows. Maybe we meet while you're still young and not an old man." Tony shrugged his shoulders as a smile crept onto his face.

"I'd hate to break up the trip down Anthony's memory lane but it is three in the morning. Steve should be asleep and you and I need to keep working." Howard joined in.

Tony laughed. "Yes _dad."_ He half joked because why not, they wouldn't know he actually meant that.

Steve laughed so hard and nearly fell, smacking Tony in the chest as he did so.

"Ow. Watch that super strength there, Cap." Tony laughed.

"How did you know-." Howard started to ask but decided it must be a future thing.

With one last awkward smile at each other Steve and Tony parted ways. Steve jogged back to his tent, wishing Bucky was asleep so he didn't have to hear the teasing.

Steve should have wished harder.

"Steve you've got it bad for the guy." Bucky laughed.

"Why does it matter? Once he goes back I'll be older so even when I see him again it won't work." Steve said as he laid on his back, a small smile still on his face.

"Then why waste the time?" Bucky became serious as he worried about his friend's feelings.

"Because either way, I get to see him again." Steve smiled.

"Oh my God you're such a sap. Bucky laughed again.

The two friends didn't sleep that night. They were to busy making fun of each other and acting like the kids they use to be.

For the first time ever, Tony stayed awake not because he was working, but because reality was slowly becoming better than his dreams, instead of them both being bad. That and because Howard couldn't stop teasing.


	3. Reforget

_Avengers Tower- Present Day_

"Loki, end this madness at once!" Thor screamed at his brother, who had altered some of Tony's furniture to make a throne. Natasha was still froze in place, but was being used as a foot rest for the God. Even though her body could not move, her eyes still showed the rage she was feeling on the inside.

Clint was no longer stuck to the wall. Loki was having a laugh as his magic moved the skilled archer around like a puppet on strings.

"I swear, I will kill you for this." Clint growled.

"You will not kill my brother." Thor warned his teammate from the other side of the room, where he was trapped in an orb of green magic.

"See brother, that's why I am able to out think you. You care to much. I couldn't care less if one of your enemies killed you." Loki laughed.

"Yet you decided to go mad with power because our father treated you differently. How does that show you don't care." Thor tried punching his cage of magic for the hundredth time.

Loki ignored his brother and glance at Bruce to see if he was still unconscious. With a smirk on the trickster's lips he felt calmer, knowing the Hulk would not be attacking anytime soon. Just for safe measures, Loki flicked his wrist and green lights wrapped Bruce up in what appeared to be metal, only it was green like Thor's trap.

"And how is our Captain doing?" Loki hollered over his shoulder towards the bar that Steve was hiding behind.

Steve was staring at his hands like they were not his own. Next to him was a half empty bottle of Tony's whiskey. Even though he couldn't get drunk, he still chugged from the bottle like it was his source of life. With his mind full of all his past mistakes, regrets, and destruction he figured he had nothing better to do. There was no reason to fight. He'd believed he'd get someone else killed if he went after Loki. In his mind it was best to stay put.

With a deep breath in Steve closed his eyes and let his head fall back onto the counter behind him, deciding to let the memories play in his head. He thought about when he had found Bucky and brought him and other soldiers back to their base. Slowly the memory changed and Steve was running over to an unconscious man who seemed to have fallen from somewhere.

' _I'm Steve. Steve Rogers.'_

Steve's eyes flew open _._ "That doesn't seem right." He mumbled to himself.

"Captain Rogers, we will figure this out. I promise!" Thor's voice boomed throughout the room.

Steve shook his head as he ignored Thor and tried to let his memories flow. Every memory was blurry, almost like it was changing. Fear climbed up Steve's spine as he started to wonder what had Loki done to his mind.

 _ **1945**_

"I'm not sure this is a good idea." Tony mumbled to Howard as they walked towards a bar that Howard was certain, Steve and Bucky would be at. The two geniuses managed to find Tony clothes from this time period, and Tony internally hated that he did indeed look like his father.

"I mean, I've already changed the past so much, just by talking to you. Now there are more people are around. The chances of me screwing up the future are-"

"Anthony, I know the odds. You seem to forget I have a brain too. I promise if anything goes sideways I'll warn you and we can fix it, but for now you need a break." Howard smiled.

Tony frowned at the man next to him. "I don't need a break. I need to go home. This is day three now that I've been stuck here. I can't waste anymore time."

"Do you remember how you nearly fell over while we were testing more on your technology? You're running yourself into the ground, Anthony. I understand this is important to you, but you're no help to your friends if you die from exhaustion." Howard raised his voice slightly.

Before Tony could retaliate, Howard marched into the bar, causing Tony to jog to keep up.

The bar was loud and crowded from all the soldiers who were enjoying the day before they went to destroy more Hydra bases in the morning. Through the sea of people, Tony instantly spotted a laughing Steve with a snickering Bucky next to him. They were sitting at the bar, making fun of each other for things they had done in their past. Tony felt his heart break as he realized that their next mission was on that train. The one where Bucky dies.

"What is it? Is something wrong?" Tony heard Howard ask.

Tony forced a smile on his face. "No, everything is okay. Great actually. Just lost in thought is all."

Howard stared at Tony for a second before he reluctantly nodded, knowing something was wrong, but understanding that it was probably about the future.

Without warning, Howard nudged Tony forward towards Steve and Bucky.

"Anthony? What are you doing here?" Steve asked, his eyes lighting up with joy.

"Well, we-" Tony turned to see Howard had disappeared, "Uh, I needed a break, I guess."

"You should get some sleep. You look tired." Steve's expression turned into one with concern.

"I'm fine. Besides sleep and I don't really go together." Tony mumbled.

"That's a shame considering with Steve you'd definitely never sleep again." Bucky smirked into his glass of whiskey.

Steve, who had been in the middle of taking a drink of his whiskey, started to cough loudly as he choked on his drink.

"Buck, what the hell? You can't say stuff like that."

Tony bursted out laughing, only stopping when he laughed so hard, he snorted. The sound caused Steve to laugh and Bucky to raise his eyebrows.

"It's not funny." Tony said, laughter taking away his serious tone.

"It's hilarious." Steve laughed, nearly falling onto Bucky.

Tony internally winced at the sight. Steve and Bucky being silly and having fun. It hurt the genius to think this was the last night they'd be like this. Losing Bucky is what caused Steve to become guarded and Tony was enjoying getting to know Steve too much to let it stop now.

"God I'm selfish.." Tony whispered.

"What did you say, Anthony?" Steve asked, still laughing quietly.

"Tomorrow... It's a-" Tony tried to warn them only to be interrupted by a hand over his mouth.

"Hey Steve. Boy, our friend sure likes to talk huh?" Howard's voice rang in Tony's ear, a warning tone directed at the man he had silenced.

Bucky laughed while Steve smiled and nodded. Tony shot daggers at them, causing Bucky to laugh more.

"Yea, he does talk a lot, but I don't really mind." Steve said, his smile growing.

Bucky leaned onto Steve's shoulder. "D'aww, how sweet."

"Bucky, I love you but I'm really liking the idea of throwing my shield at you." Steve warned his friend only causing more laughter.

Slowly, Howard removed his hand off of Tony's mouth and whispered in his ear, so that only he could hear.

"Watch yourself."

Tony sighed and nodded. He was, regrettably, lucky Howard was there to stop him. If he had blurted out the future, who knows what could have happened. Maybe instead of Bucky dying, Steve died, all because Tony had warned them. Tony felt sick at the thought.

"So Anthony, tell us more about yourself." Bucky smirked at Tony as he leaned back onto the bar.

"I'm not sure I can do that." Tony laughed sheepishly.

"Calm down Anthony. You don't have to tell us all your information. Just tell us what you like." Steve smiled at Tony.

"He likes blondes with blue eyes." Bucky mumbled with a shit eating grin.

"Will you stop. Just stop." Steve glared at his snickering friend.

"Well he's not wrong." Tony smirked.

Steve's face went red as he stared at Tony.

"Okay before things get more awkward, tell us about yourself quick." Howard joined the conversation once again.

Tony smiled as he looked at the ground. "Well as you know I like creating things. Science wise, not like art. That's a real challenge, but like I said before, I'm technically a superhero where I'm from. I'm part of a team that works together to keep the world safe. Uh, I really like coffee. If that's worth anything... I'm not sure what else to say."

"Do you have any family?" Steve asked with a smile.

Tony's smile fell slightly. He mentally hoped it wasn't noticeable as he gave Howard a quick glance. "No. I mean technically the team is my family but... well I'm not sure they see me as family."

Tony looked between the group, chuckling at their shocked expressions.

"Sorry. I guess there's more bad than good when it comes to my life." Tony laughed quietly.

Steve frowned as he stood up and pulled Tony into a strong embrace.

"I'm sorry. I wish I could be there to make things better." Steve whispered.

Tony smiled and sighed as he deepened the hug. "Trust me Capsicle, you already have."

"Hey, enough hugging. Let's party!" Bucky yelled as he climbed onto the bar, bottle of whiskey in hand.

A collective cheer erupted from the establishment. Music grew louder as more drinks were served. Before Tony could make sense of anything around him Steve was standing on the bar next to Bucky and the genius somehow had a drink in his hand. He grimaced at the liquid poison. His mind told him not to drink it, but deep down in the far corner of his brain was a thought that told him he'd never get another chance to party with the great Captain America again. With a shrug Tony downed the drink in one quick motion.

Instantly the warmth of the alcohol filled Tony's body. He smiled at the feeling he had gone so long without.

"I guess a few drinks couldn't hurt." Tony smirked as he joined Bucky and Steve on top of the bar. Howard laughed at the sight of the three men dancing like idiots, just to see who could make the others laugh more. More drinks were consumed causing majority of the people to leave. Eventually, the four men were the only ones left.

"Alright, we should be going. I think we've had enough fun for the night." Howard, who surprisingly didn't have anything to drink, laughed.

Bucky was off in the distance, slow dancing with a coat rack, Steve was still at the bar drawing on a napkin, and Tony was behind the bar with several empty bottles surrounding him.

"You're probably right. Normally Bucky dances with a lamp, so I think he's too far gone." Steve laughed as he glanced at his friend.

"Anthony, let's go. We gotta work on getting you home." Howard walked around the bar until he was standing over a wasted Tony.

With a hiccup Tony spoke slurred words. "Dn't wnna.."

Steve laughed as he helped Tony stand. "Come on. You can't stay here forever. Your friends need you, remember?"

"No they don't." Tony's words were less slurred, but still covered in a mask of exhaustion.

The sound of Bucky falling over was heard behind them.

"They don't need me. I'm just a man in a can. Not recommend. Self des-truc-tiv-e." Tony broke up the last word to put emphasis on it. "Jus' a big man.. in a suit o' armor. Take that off I'm nothin' special."

"Anthony? I think you need to lay down. Just-" Steve tried to say, concern noticeable.

"My dad talked about you. He said you were friends. He would talk about how you guys worked together. How amazing Captain America was. How perfect he was. He told stories about how you stopped all the bad guys. All I ever wanted was for him to tell stories about me one day, but… I'm not Captain America. So, there was nothing special to tell…" Tony shrugged his shoulders.

Steve felt his heart shatter. "What kind of man would treat their own child like that?"

"Me.." Howard joined the conversation again, his face full of devastation. "I'm your father… aren't I, Anthony?"

Tony's hands flew up to silence Howard. "Shh.. no one can know the future."

Without realizing that the truth had come out, Tony giggled then fell to the floor, too drunk to stay awake.


	4. Iron

"Alcoholic?" Steve's voice wavered. The word left a taste of bile on his tongue.

Howard nodded, a defeated look on his face.

"I should have seen the signs. I mean did you see the way he looked at his first drink?"

Steve shook his head. "No, I didn't. If he knows he has a drinking problem, then why did he take that first drink?"

"I wish I knew for sure…" Howard turned his back to Steve.

"Hey." Steve placed a hand on Howard's shoulder. "Are you okay? I can't imagine how finding out you're his-"

"He was drunk. For all we know his mind could have been off. There's a chance what he said isn't true so there's no need to worry about it." Howard's voice had a hint of disbelief in it.

Steve remained quiet, unsurprised by Howard's guarded state. If what Tony had hinted at was true, it meant somewhere down the line Howard's relationship with Tony crumbled apart. Steve only prayed that this situation fixed it, or it at the very least they had some good times together.

At that moment, Tony shuffled into the room. He looked tired and sick, no doubt from the hangover he was being attacked by.

"Need. Coffee. Now." Tony kept his eyes squeezed shut to block out any light.

"Anthony…do you remember yesterday at all?" Steve asked, unsure of what he hoped for in response.

Tony jokingly frowned. "Please tell me nobody kissed me."

"This is serious." Steve said flatly.

Tony turned to face Steve. He had that 'I'm Captain America So You Better Listen' look on his face.

"Did something bad happen?" Tony finally asked.

"We think you're an alcoholic, Anthony." Steve blurted out, not completely answering Tony's question.

Tony stood there and waited for someone else to speak. He made a face that resembled having something foul in his mouth.

"That's ridiculous." He turned away as he spoke, hiding his face from the two men. He started messing with the coffee machine.

"It's not ridiculous and you know it." Howard joined in with disappointment in his voice.

"You don't know me. How do you know I just drank a little too much? Just because I got a bit tipsy doesn't mean I'm an alcoholic." Tony faced them again, blocking the coffee machine with his body.

"If that's true, what did you just put in your coffee?" Steve raised an eyebrow at the shorter man.

It was then Steve realized that Tony looked sick. The circles that were a permanent resident under his eyes seemed darker. He looked slightly thinner and his lips were chapped which added dehydrated to the list of things that was wrong with Tony.

"It's just coffee. Calm down, Grandpa." Tony avoided Steve's gaze, sipping from his mug.

Howard pushed himself off the table he had been leaning on and grabbed the cup from Tony's hands.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

"Whiskey." Howard muttered, ignoring Tony's outraged question.

Both Howard and Steve turned to glare at Tony with disappointment in their eyes.

Tony sighed as he looked at the floor. "Look I… yes I have a problem but it was worse in the past. I swear this isn't even that bad so there's no need to look at me like I'm some screw up."

"We aren't saying you're a screw up. We're saying we're worried." Steve mumbled, anger depleting from his voice. Even with the space between them, Steve could see Tony's hands were shaking, either from the need of alcohol or from fear. Fear of what? Being caught? Being judged? Tony noticed Steve was watching his hands and hid them behind his back. He hated showing anything other than confidence and he hated when his own hands betrayed him. Either from shaking or flailing through the air to much or by clenching into fists, they found ways to show he was insecure and full of anxiety.

"Just… do what everyone else does and ignore it." Tony spat as he turned to storm out of the room.

Steve took one step to follow Tony, only to freeze at the chuckle that emitted from behind him.

"What's so funny, Howard?" Steve hissed as he turned to face the man.

"He's being dramatic. With his level of intelligence, I doubt he's ever ignored. Just give him sometime, he'll feel better later." Howard turned his back to Steve as he tinkered with a machine on the table.

Steve could only stare at Howard with disbelief on his face. "If he really is your son, you should help him."

"I am helping him."

"Sending him back home isn't what I meant. He needs-"

"He's a genius! He can fix it on his own! He's smart enough, smarter than me in fact. He doesn't need my help." Howard raised his voice and instantly Steve put two and two together.

"You've got to be joking. This why he has anger towards you. You're jealous of him. Because of his smarts. That's what causes you to screw up your relationship with him. Come on, Howard. You're a better man than that. He deserves more than that..."

"I am not jealous." Howard growled.

"Of course you are. Look at how your feelings towards him change once you found out who he was. He's brilliant and you hate that he is going to be able to accomplish more than you." Steve almost felt sorry for the man.

Howard remained silent and for some reason it pissed Steve off.

"What's the matter, Howard? Can't handle having a son who's smarter than you? You'd think a man would support their kid, but no. With you, no one can be better, especially if they're family."

Howard let out a scream as he threw Tony's mug of whiskey. It flew past Steve's face and smashed on the wall behind the blonde.

"I. Am. Not. Jealous."

"You're pathetic. Because of your jealousy and paranoia you, eventually, emotionally damage your own son." Steve was fuming. He felt sick looking at Howard who had now moved to be inches from Steve's face.

"Keep talking, Rogers. You forget that he isn't born yet. I can keep it that way if I want to." Howard smirked with a dark look in his eyes.

Steve froze. Howard wouldn't do that. He couldn't. What kind of person would purposely change the future just because they were jealous of their child?

"No wonder he's a mess. He got stuck with you as a father.." Steve mumbled as he turned to find Tony.

Howard scoffed as he poured himself a glass of Tony's "hidden" whiskey.

 _ **Present Day**_

"I really don't see your reasoning for coming back. Shouldn't you be, oh I don't know, taking over the world? Not messing around with us." An annoyed Clint hissed as Loki's magic forced him fan the God with a giant, purple feather.

"Patience my dear bird. I have successfully stopped your team, a celebration is in order. I merely require a few days to partake in a "va-kate-shun" as I've heard it called." Loki smirked at his angry slave.

"You're an idiot." Clint growled. It was hard to take the God seriously when he didn't understand anything about their world.

"And yet you were stopped by me. What does that make you?" Loki sneered.

"A Phoenix" Loki laughed at Clint's comment.

Clint shrugged his shoulders. "Laugh all you want. Sure I may be down now, but I'll come back with fire around me to back me up and kick your ass."

Loki rolled his eyes. "What does that make the others?"

"The fire."

On the other side of the tower Natasha was able to move, finally, except for the enchanted shackles that held her limbs together. Next to her was a still sleeping Bruce and a restricted Thor.

"You're telling me, you another God, can _not_ break out of these chains? Seriously?"

"It is more complicated than that, Natasha." Thor tried to sound calm, only to fail and sound disappointed with himself.

"Just hold your hand out. Call for the Mjolnir and let's kick some ass." Natasha smiled at the thought.

"Again, not that simple. With these binds on my wrists the hammer finds me unworthy. There is too much of Loki's magic weighing me down. Even I don't fully understand it." Thor mumbled.

Behind them a chuckle was heard.

Steve had been sitting up against the wall, a new bottle of liquor in his hands, listening to the conversation. He couldn't help but laugh at Thor's words.

"I can hear him now. Saying something along the lines of 'I hate magic.'" Steve grinned a weak shape as he took another swig of the half empty bottle. Everyone instantly knew who he was talking about. Deep down, Steve was surprised he could remember something Tony would say, considering his memories were out of whack.

"Captain, this is no time for laughter."Thor boomed, being unintentionally loud.

Once again, Steve laughed. "Why are we even talking with you. If you weren't here I'm sure Loki wouldn't be here."

"Stand down, Captain." Natasha hissed.

"Just stop, Nat. Nothing is going to help fix this. We lost, the bad guy won. There's no one who can help." Steve rolled his eyes at his teammates as he chugged more of the liquid poison in his hand.

"Stark can help." Natasha smirked when Steve's face contorted into a look of concern when she mentioned the billionaire.

After a moment of silence, Steve snorted. "He's not coming back. He's gone."

"I refuse to believe that."

The group internally jumped at the new voice. Bruce was now awake, laying on his back. Even though he had been asleep, he still appeared to be exhausted.

"How are you awake? Loki put some sort of spell on you. I don't understand." Natasha stared at the, surprisingly, calm man with a look of confusion.

"I may not understand magic, but the one rule that will always make sense to me is that it doesn't last forever. It'll eventually wear off. Sure he can have magic forever, but his spells won't stick that long. I can only hope, Loki hasn't realized that I'm awake yet." Bruce looked around the room, trying to find an escape route.

"Clint is up there with him. We need to get him out before we leave." Natasha's voice sounded like it was pleading.

Steve practically jumped up off the wall. "I have an idea." the others couldn't hide the joy they felt at the sight of Steve contributing.

"Bruce, I'm sorry, but we're going to need the big guy." Steve frowned at his words. He hated how turning into the big guy effected the man. It seemed that the more he did it, the more fragile he became.

"Don't worry about it, Steve. I understand what has to be done." Bruce smiled a small smile.

"With Loki distracted by the Hulk, his magic should falter, making it possible for us to escape." Natasha said, looking down at the green metal around her wrists.

"Sounds like a formidable plan." Thor boasted.

"What about Tony?" Bruce asked the question on Steve's mind.

"We'll have to figure that out once we are out of here. Loki might become distracted long enough for him to come back or he might figure out what to do on his own. We just have to.. hope.. he's okay." The word hope burned in Steve's throat. He really hated what Loki did to him. The others got off easy compared to him and Tony and it pissed him off. He wasn't sure if he was more angry about what Loki did to him or the fact he had no idea what he did to Tony. Now that the genius was on his mind, Steve tried to focus on a memory with the man only to become internally frustrated. It seemed like all his memories were still a blur. Static on a TV. Almost like they were becoming something different.

Past all the static, Steve could eventually see a laughing Tony and suddenly the idea of hope didn't sound so bad.


	5. Afraid

"Anthony?" Steve knocked on the door that lead to the room Tony had been staying in for the past few days.

"I'm not here. Go away."

Steve laughed under his breath. "If you're not here, how can you answer me?"

"I'm from the future, duh."

Steve couldn't help but smile even though he could hear the sadness in Tony's voice.

"Come on. Let's talk for a little while. I have to leave in a little bit, or did you forget about my mission?" Steve tried to joke. He knew Tony wouldn't have forgotten.

What sounded like papers being thrown was heard from the other side.

"Please leave me alone…"

Tony sounded like a small animal. He sounded scared. Like he was in trouble or being hunted by a bigger threat.

Steve's heart practically stopped when he heard the sound of Tony's repulsor come alive with energy.

"Anthony?"

Tony didn't respond, causing Steve to panic more. He didn't fully understand why the sound of the other man's technology startled him. He just knew he didn't like the sound of someone sad and alone in a room, cocking a gun and the repulsor was Tony's version of a gun. And it didn't help that Tony wasn't answering.

"Anthony!"

Steve was three seconds from breaking the door down, but his muscles relaxed when Tony quickly opened the door. His eyes were red and puffy. The idea of Tony crying seemed foreign to Steve for some reason. The sight made Steve understand that Tony _needed_ to cry. Needed to let his emotions out, but it also hurt him to think that Tony was someone who held in emotions.

"What?"

Tony's voice shook slightly. His face had that mask of confidence on once again.

"You…I…I was worried." Steve mumbled, avoiding eye contact completely.

Tony pushed his lips together as he blew out air, making a sound that made it seem like he was going to laugh. "Worried?"

Steve nodded. "It's just I thought-"

"I know what you thought." A hint of anger snuck it's way into Tony's voice.

"Anthony.. I'm-"

"Don't. It's not important…"

Steve opened his mouth to speak but Tony was already turning to walk back into the room, leaving the door open so Steve could follow if he wanted too.

"So.. how are you? Are you okay? Ya know, with leaving soon."

Steve could only stare at Tony with his mouth slightly open. This man- no this _brilliant_ man- is deeply wounded and yet here he was asking Steve if _he_ was okay. After a few minutes of not responding, Tony noticed the silence and turned to Steve.

"Steve? You there? I kind of lost you for a second." Tony forced a small laugh, trying to lighten the mood.

"Why don't you understand how incredible you are?" Steve was slowly turning red in the face as he blurted out words.

Tony laughed. He actually _laughed._ "Very funny, Rogers."

"Shut up and listen. I understand things must not go well in your life what with Howard-"

"What?" Steve internally cursed. Tony didn't know he told them about Howard being his father.

Steve could actually see Tony thinking. The process went from confusion to realization, then devastation. A shaky hand ran through brown hair.

"I told you… didn't I?"

The idea of lying definitely crossed the super soldier's mind. If he lied Tony wouldn't be upset. Unless he caught him lying and for whatever reason Steve didn't like the idea of being another person who lies to Tony.

"Yes. You're his son… he's your father."

"He is _not_ my father."

Steve raised a concerned eyebrow.

"Okay, genetically he is, but that's all." Tony shrugged away his obvious annoyance with either himself or the topic in general. Steve hated that it was most likely the first option.

A deathly silence fell between the two. Tony appeared to be deep in thought once again while Steve's focus switched between Tony and an empty bottle on the floor. Her felt sick at the sight, but he also felt guilty for not knowing how to help.

Steve then felt a jolt of adrenaline. He began to speak and he honestly didn't know why.

"Anthony, I meant what I said. I know you won't believe it, but I don't mind repeating myself. You're incredibe, brilliant, extraordinary, and so much more. You're the only reason that makes me want to stay here and not fight. And I don't care if you're a Stark. That's not all you are. I don't like you because of your last name… I like you because you're the only you and I'm glad you got sent back in time. Even if it's for a short amount of time."

Tony was looking at the floor, his hands hidden behind his legs from habit. His eyes became glossy and Steve felt his heart skip a beat. He almost wished he never said anything, because then Tony wouldn't be emotional. Almost.

"You can cry if you want. You don't have to hide your emotions from me. You're allowed to be happy." Steve smiled even though Tony wasn't looking.

Steve's smile faltered when Tony chuckled.

"Future Cap would disagree with you on so many levels…"

"That's not me yet. And who says after meeting you, I'll still be that?"

"Did you really think I didn't have a solution for that. Me meeting you already changed the future so I've been working to fix that too. Nothing can change. For all I know, me meeting you now prevents us from meeting again and I can't handle losing you completely. I don't want to live in a future without you, Steve. That's why I have to fix _everything._ No matter what suppose to happen. No matter how much I want to change it."

Tony's eyes shifted to the floor again. It was strange to see him timid and lacking confidence. Steve hated that part of him preferred the other side of him. The mask that protected the real man. Tony was sadly a great actor.

"You don't want to lose _me_?"

Tony sighed. "You caught that, huh?"

Steve chuckled when Tony's face went red.

"None of that matters. What matters is that I fix everything. Hopefully Howard will still help." Tony's mood went sour again as he spat out his father's name.

Steve walked forward, closing the space between them, just until there was barely a foot in between. "Screw Howard. Don't worry about fixing things. Just until I leave. Once I go you can work til you drop. As long as you don't go home without saying goodbye."

Tony laughed. It felt warm in his chest and he almost panicked at the feeling. He hadn't laughed like that in so long amd realizing that hurt him deep down. They both realized their faces were getting closer together. Neither of them knew where this was heading, bt neither of them cared. Their lips almost met when the door was pushed open, slamming against the wall and leaving a smal dent from the doorknob.

"Howard?" Steve jumped back from Tony, eyes wide at te intruder.

"Shut up, Steve." Howard slurred. He was still clutching onto the nearly empty bottle of whiskey that Tony left behind with white knuckles.

"Hey! Don't talk to him like that. He's ten times the man you'll ever be so show some respect." Tony fumed. Steve mentally noticed how quickly anger flared when Howard was involved.

"Anthony don't worry about it. He's drunk." Steve glared at the intoxicated man. They had just talked to Tony about his problem moments ago and here was father of the year, showing that he could do whatever he wanted while Tony couldn't.

"Do me a favor, Cap. Call me Tony. _He_ named me Anthony. I don't want anything to do with him." Tony never looked in Steve's direction. He kept angry eyes on a swaying Howard.

"I really don't understand why you're being a little bitch about this." Howard shot out.

"I heard what yu said. When I left the room. You're jealous of me. Because I'm smarter." Tony began to walk towards Howard. "You hate that I will be a better person in general. I'm going to do great things and you'll just be an awful memory."

"If it wasn't for me you'd never have that brain. You'd never have been born. So how about I say I don't want a _brat_. I won't find a girl. Just to make sure I'm the superior one."

Tony shut his mouth quick, his teeth snapping together making a clicking sound. Steve pulled Tony back by the arm as he stormed into Howard's personal space.

"Howard enough. We can talk about this when you aren't drunk." Steve slowly reached for the bottle in the man's hand only to freeze when he felt cool metal on his forehead. The situation became a blur. Tony was screaming, Howard was yelling for him to shut up, and Steve sat perfectly still; knowing damn well what was leaving a mark on his head. He didn't need to look up at it to know. He has work with guns long enough to know Howard had been planning on shooting someone. Whether it was Tony, Steve, or himself was unknown, but here was Steve stuck with the gun to his head.

"Put the gun down or I swear-"

"You'll what? Kill me? News flash, I die you ever exist." Howard hissed. He didn't sound so drunk anymore. The adrenaline must be clearing his mind in some way. Either that or he was faking the whole time. Steve decided that wasn't important information to figure out at the time.

"I don't care. Whatever it takes to keep him alive." Tony sounded like a mess. Steve couldn't see him but he assumed he was crying. First he felt like running over to comfort the man. Then he realized Tony being upset wasn't always a good thing. He could do something crazy. Take a risk thinking it was the best idea. Steve silently prayed he didn't risk something to big.

"Of course you'd say that. Another reason I'll have to remember to be disappointed. You're a fucking fagg-"

Howard's voice stopped before he could continue. Tony was screaming again, tears in his eyes as he ran over and tackled his father. They began fighting for the gun as Steve pushed himself back to find a way to defuse the situation from its level of danger. Serum or not, Steve couldn't focus on the two men squabbling. His heart was racing and his breathing became forced. Almost like an asthma attack. He definitely did not miss those.

Steve's reaction to the situation must of been obvious because Tony took a split second to look over at him. A second too long. Howard grabbed Tony's wrist and twisted it into an abnormal position, grabbed the gun earning a shout of pain from Tony. The sound of Tony being in pain forced Captain America to make an appearance, as Steve jumped up off the floor and lunged at Howard but froze when the angry man grabbed Tony, put his arm around his neck, and put the gun to his head.

"I can end this whole thing right now. How do we know he was suppose to survive the past? Maybe I'm suppose to shoot him. Make sure he doesn't exist." Howard smirked. His eyes were bloodshot and he was sweating. He looked like a madman yet his hand was steady. He wasn't afraid to kill his own son.

Fear was smeared all over Tony's face but he pushed it aside and kicked Howard in the shin. With a brief pause to react they began fight over the weapon again. Steve jumped forward, still searching for an opening to grab the gun. Curse words were muttered between the two Starks as the tried to gain control. Steve could tell neither of them were thinking and that scared him. They were known for their minds and yet here they were forgetting they had them at all. Instead of talking they went straight to violence and Steve hated to think that they were similar considering he could assume Tony wanted to be anything but his father.

"Guys this isn't going to-"

Steve didn't jump because the gun went off. He jumped when he heard it hit someone's flesh.


	6. Comatose

Being chased by a villain was normal. Being chased by the police was definitely not one of the team's favorite things.

Technically it was still a villain searching for them, but would you be surprised to hear that Loki can take over the minds of all law enforcement in any area he wishes? No you wouldn't, because Loki isn't dumb. He has a plan and of course it's a better one than last time. Of course-

"Clint! Stop narrating! Just. Stop."

The sewers, which had become the group's hiding place for the time being, was annoying enough. It didn't help that all of Clint's thoughts were spoken out loud, as if he was telling a story to someone else. Other than Clint talking the only other sounds that could be heard was water being disturbed by their walking and Bruce breathing heavily. Even though the team told the man they could think of a better plan without involving the big guy, Bruce insisted, which was probably best in the long run considering Clint was three seconds from being turned into an icicle. Apparently Loki was enjoying the idea of the Avengers as his frozen decor.

"We need to find somewhere safe." Natasha muttered. "I'd suggest several people who could help, but I don't want Loki controlling their minds too. It's bad enough the law is after us, we don't need one of us hunting us too."

Steve remained silent. Loki's magic hadn't yet worn off from his system yet which only made him angrier by the minute. He still wasn't fully sure what the God had done to him. His memories were still fuzzy and he felt like there was really no point in trying anymore. If he focused on his missing memories the crushing feeling of magical depression wasn't so bad. But it's not exactly easy to think about memories that aren't there.

"I should have done more to prevent this from happening. I should have known he'd find a way back on Earth." For once, Thor didn't unintentionally yell. The sound of a quiet Thor was heartbreaking. Natasha nudged the God with her shoulder.

"You couldn't have known. Besides when we stop him this time we get to gloat that that we bested him twice." The redhead's comment made Thor chuckle.

"I definitely can't wait for that to happen." Clint was frantically jumping at the back of the group, throwing in punches as if Loki was right in front of him.

"First we need to reverse the magic that is affecting Steve." Bruce spoke for the first time since he had to Hulk out.

"I'm fine. We need to keep moving." Steve was set in his Captain America mode. His face made a look of disgust as a rat scurried past them, towards the direction they came from. Clint followed it with his eyes and spoke once it was gone.

"Five bucks says Loki is controlling that rat."

"Not funny." Natasha mumbled.

"You know, not everything I say is a joke."

Overhead the sound of police sirens blared. Steve counted four patrol vehicles as they past. Once the sound became distant the team continued moving, turning down a tunnel to the right to make sure they avoided wherever the police cars were heading.

"Should we be worried about Loki figuring out Tony's technology? I'm sure there is some sort of security system that runs through the whole city, including the sewers." Natasha whispered to Bruce.

After a moment to think, Bruce shrugged his shoulders. "It all depends on if he even thinks about it. He knows technology can help us, what with Tony having nothing but technology to defend him, but -"

"That's not all he has. He can fight hand to hand." Steve muttered.

Bruce raised an eyebrow at the Captain before speaking again, deciding not to question Steve's reason for interrupting.

"Right, well Tony has mostly technology to help, which makes sense to keep Tony away. But if Loki didn't want to use the technology he would have gotten rid of it and possibly anyone capable of making it. Instead he got rid of one genius. He most likely needs it for whatever he's planning."

"So what you're saying is, more mind control." Clint scrunched up his nose at the thought.

"What I'm saying is more mind control. Last time he attacked he couldn't control Tony so it makes sense to get rid of him all together and find someone else to do his work. If only I knew what." Bruce scratched at the back of his head as he began to think. The team all silently agreed to give him a moment, opting to whisper to each other.

"It seems like Loki is scared of science." Steve smirked at the thought.

"That's why we need to keep Bruce away from him. Bruce can cause problems as the big guy of course, but he has a great mind. He's more than just the Hulk. Why do you think Stark sometimes yells 'Science Bros" while they're working?" Natasha smiled at the last part. It was nice having Bruce back and part of the team. Even if he was mostly there for his mind, on account of the other guy being a last resort. She kind of regretted having him turn into the Hulk just to get them out, but if she reminded herself that Loki could have taken over their minds and turn them on the world, she felt slightly better. Slightly.

More sirens screamed above them.

"I wish I knew what he was making those cops do. Besides searching for us that is." Clint kept his eyes up, as if a cop car would just fall straight through the road above.

The sound of metal shoes walking behind them silenced all conversation. Alert eyes scanned the sewers as best as they could.

"We must hurry." Thor took the lead at a quicker pace, not wanting to find out what was down there with them.

"Wait. That sounds like-"

"No. It could be Loki messing with us. Let's keep moving." Natasha ordered before Steve could finish his sentence.

The footsteps grew quiet as the sound of rockets of some sort took their place. An unknown spoken agreement told the team to run. Their footsteps echoed loudly as they sprinted blindly through the sewer tunnels, but they didn't pay attention to it considering whatever was chasing them sounded closer every second.

"Guys, we should stop. It's sounds a lot like-"

"Captain, your mind is not right. It doesn't matter what it sounds like. It's obviously Loki trying to trick us." Clint shouted over Steve.

Steve twisted his face into a look of anger as he stopped abruptly, turning to face the direction of the threat.

"Steve!" Natasha was the first to stop, reaching out for their leader's arm. The rest of the team reluctantly stopped as well, glancing at each other as they all thought Loki had done more than taken the man's hope.

Deep down Steve felt fear. Fear that he was wrong. Fear that he _had_ gone crazy. But past that he felt a shocking sensation. He could feel Loki's magic fading. He could feel _hope._

Their hunter had caught up with them. With a flash of light and a cloud of smoke it ceased it's airborne chase and landed. The sound of metal feet hitting floor made their hearts race a beat faster than normal. Eyes went wide as they took in what was right in front of them.

Before them stood an Iron Man suit.

Everyone held their breath as they waited for the suit to attack or at least say something.

"Captain."

Steve had to fight the urge to hug the suit as Tony's voice left it.

"Stark, we thought Loki sent you away for good." Natasha smiled as she spoke.

"Aw. You were worried about me."

Clint laughed as the redhead rolled her eyes.

"I should have known magic couldn't keep you away." Bruce grinned at his friend.

The team slowly continued their walk through the giant drain pipes.

"It's a good thing you're here. We figure Loki is afraid of technology and that's why he got rid of you. Which means you can definitely help us. Nat also wants to keep Banner safe. We don't need his Hulk mind or scientific mind being controlled." Steve informed the man next to him.

"If that were true, he would have just killed me." Tony's voice sounded like he was hiding his emotions. As if he had that mask of confidence again. Or a mask of something else. Steve could tell this mask wasn't a normal one.

The rest of the team had walked ahead some, creating a space between them and the two men. Enough to where they wouldn't hear their conversation.

"Tony, what did Loki do to you?" Steve didn't look at the man next to him. He wasn't even sure why, he just felt like he shouldn't look.

"Sent me to the past. Let me tell you, time travel isn't great. Now I know how you feel."

Steve noticed that all of Tony's responses seemed automatic. He shrugged his shoulders and figured it was nothing. Instantly, Steve hated that he decided to ignore the possibility of Tony not being okay.

"I'm glad you're okay. I'm _really_ glad." Steve felt his face grow warm as he spoke.

"Interesting."

Steve's head snapped to the side to look at the suit of armor. In this moment it looked cold. As if it was, basically, evil. Like something was wrong. The blue lights the represented eyes on the Iron Man mask flashed with a green tint to it for a brief moment. Steve felt his heart drop as he realized he was wrong to have stopped.

"You're not Tony."

"Funny, you probably thought you had more time to hide before I figured out the metal man's technology. Nothing a little magic can't fix." Tony's voice was gone. Now it was Loki who spoke. The faceplate of the suit opened to show Steve the suit was empty. Green electricity ran through everything, proving that Loki had indeed taken the suit over without even having to wear it.

"Now I know exactly how to stop you. Thanks to our little chat. Obviously your hope comes back when that annoying Iron Man is around, so the only way to stop you is to _really_ get rid of him." Loki laughed as a flash of green blinded Steve long enough for the stolen suit to disappear.

"Steve! What happened?" Bruce had noticed that Steve and 'Tony' had fallen behind.

"I don't know. All I remember is Loki just did something." Steve shook his head, trying to remember.

"Great. It was Loki. We tried to tell you, Steve." Natasha rolled her eyes at the confused man in front of her.

"Tell me what?" Steve's eyes showed nothing but confusion and uncertainty.

"That Loki was trying to trick us. Obviously that wasn't really Stark-"

"Who?"

Natasha froze at Steve's question. Bruce spoke up then, continuing where she left off.

"Tony. Loki must have used one of his Iron Man suits to find us we have to move. If that wasn't Tony then the real Tony is probably still in danger."

Steve continued to stare at his teammates with a dumbfounded expression.

"Can someone please explain who Tony is?"

A moment of excruciating silence fell over the team.

With a loud sigh, Clint rubbed his hands over his face.

"I think I know what Loki did to Steve now."

Right at the moment a blurry memory flashed by in Steve's mind. It was hard to tell what was happening but Steve could see two men, fighting over what appeared to be a gun. The gun fired.

Whoever just walked into the room fell to the floor as the bullet shredded through their shoulder.

Steve felt all hope drain out of his body as the static cleared long enough to see who the bullet hit.

"Bucky?"


	7. Gravity

' _Why did I do that?'_

' _ **Because I told you too?'**_

' _Who are you? Why would you want me to kill my own son?'_

' _ **So many questions. I owe you nothing.'**_

Howard sighed as he tried to ignore the voice in his head. The voice that had told him to find a gun. The voice that made him full of rage. The voice that told him he had to kill Tony.

The gun that shot Bucky sat on the floor at Howard's feet.

' _ **Pick it up. Finish the job.'**_

Howard shot up of the chair he had glued himself to once help came for Bucky. He knew it was stupid but he couldn't stop himself from pacing and for some reason he wondered if Tony did the same thing when he was stressed.

"He's my son. How could I..?"

The creak of the door opening alerted someone's arrival.

"Howard?"

"Anthony? What are you doing here?"

"No. I get to ask questions. Why?"

Howard avoided eye contact with Tony. "Why what?"

"Don't you fucking dare. Answer the question." Tony could feel the venom in his own words as they shot out of his mouth.

Howard still refused to look at Tony as he sighed. "I don't know. I just know I had to."

"That makes no fucking sense!"

"You being here makes no sense. Why should anything make sense anymore?"

Tony hated that he didn't know how to respond to Howard. He knew he should hate him for what had happened. Hate him more than he had before Loki sent him through time, but for some reason Tony couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Howard Stark may be an asshole and a bad father, but he wouldn't kill someone. Well, he wouldn't risk killing Captain America at least.

Tony marched forward, deciding to end the previous conversation. He grabbed Howard's jaw with more force than necessary, and forced the man to look at him.

"You look normal. How do you feel?"

Howard stared up at Tony for a moment with a look of confusion before he spoke. "I feel.. fine."

"What did you mean by, you just knew you had to try and…" Tony refused to finish the sentence.

"I just did. Something told me I had too." Howard began to sound annoyed. Tony missed the glare sent his way as he rolled his eyes.

"Something? Like a feeling? Or what? You gotta give me as much information as possible here."

"A voice. I heard-"

" _ **I'm still here you know."**_

Howard stuttered as the snake like voice made its presence known again. "I- I _hear_ a voice."

Tony bit his lip. Maybe Howard was actually going crazy. Maybe something was wrong mentally.

"Look, I think we should have your brain checked out. I can have FRIDAY scan you and-"

"You, think I'm crazy! After all that's happened to you, you're going to assume I've lost my mind? This is the one strange thing about the situation?"

Tony opened his mouth to retaliate but froze when Howard's eyes had a flash of green spark in them.

"No.."

"What?" The angrier Howard became the brighter the green electricity in his irises grew.

Tony grabbed at Howard's face again, ignoring all protests as he put his wrist that held his watch over the anger spewing face that belonged to his father. He tried to ignore the fact the he's seen that anger before on an older face. He ignored the feeling in his stomach that told him to stand down and hide until Howard calmed down or risk adding a purple mark to his skin. He ignored the voice in his head that said he had to keep doing this. He ignored the realization that he has always cared had tolerance for this man.

"S-scan. FRIDAY scan. Please.. find out what's wrong." Tony's voice shook as he tried to avoid Howard's green filled glares.

" _Sir, there appears to be a current of a green element flowing through Mr. Stark's brain."_

"Search for any matches. Doesn't have to be exact, just give me the closest match."

The wait before FRIDAY spoke again felt like years. Normally, Tony would have joked that it felt so long, he'd be back in his own time. But this situation wasn't normal so why did Tony have to act 'normal.'

" _Sir, it matches the magic that Loki used to bring you here."_

"Percentage?"

" _One hundred percent match."_

After a brief pause for thinking, Tony let go of Howard and slowly shifted away. It was obvious Howard was still angry, but he appeared to have understood all that was being said between Tony and his watch. Either that or the magic was taking a different effect on the man.

"FRIDAY, how did the magic get to him?"

The AI hesitated, only for a moment, but long enough for Tony to notice. " _It came from you, Sir. You're still covered in it."_

Howard snorted. "Of course it's _your_ fault." The green in his eyes burn a shade brighter when he spoke. Tony couldn't help but feel a pinch of fear in his stomach as his mind reminded him of Bruce. The way his friend's eyes would flash green when his anger boiled was very different compared to this green, but it caused Tony to feel two things. Fear and concern. He hated that Bruce had to deal with the Hulk and he only had fear for what others could cause the Hulk to do. With Howard the fear was most likely always present. The concern, Tony could only hope, was a recent feeling.

"FRIDAY, if Loki's magic is at work here, why am I not affected. Besides being sent to the past that is?" Tony found it was easier to ignore his father.

" _You have been affected. You picked up your drinking habits again. Is that not correct?"_

Tony sighed as he looked at his hands. They we shaking slightly. He knew he could play it off as lack of sleep or stress from the situation he was in, but no matter how many people didn't know, he would always recognize the feeling of wanting alcohol. He had refrained from letting the liquid poison past his lips into his system since Bucky was shot. But no matter what, that familiar feeling that lied to the genius, saying he _needed_ alcohol was definitely growing louder by the minute.

" _ **Grab the gun."**_

"No." Howard had spoken out loud, earning a raised eyebrow from Tony.

" _ **You know you want to."**_

"Stop it!"

"Howard I'm not doing anything." Tony raised an eyebrow while he spoke.

"Anthony, you need to leave. Now." Howard sounded out of breath.

" _ **Just kill him already. He hasn't done any good here. Kill him. Kill him. Now!"**_

Howard's eyes went full green as he grabbed at his head with both hands and screamed. Tony ran forward and grabbed his arms, unsure of what he should do. Behind them the door opened but Tony didn't care who it was. He was a little preoccupied with holding Howard's arms down before the man could claw at his own head. That is until Howard pushed Tony off with his legs and jumped on him, wrapping his hands around his son's throat. The look in Howard's now green eyes showed he didn't recognize Tony.

Voices grew louder. Panic filled the room. Tony was unsure of the number of people that had entered the room. As his vision blurred, he could feel his face turning that shade of purple that he hated to admit he's felt many times before. Now that Tony thought about it, he wouldn't mind if he was back at that moment where Loki had thrown him out of his own tower. At least then they could have stopped him better, never make Ultron, and be back with his family team.

He began to wonder if they missed him. Or did they even notice he was gone? Sure they'd notice, but maybe Loki messed with their minds. Or maybe they were dead. That was even more doubtful. Loki liked to play games and they had beaten his first game which meant he wouldn't just kill them. He _had_ to mess with them.

' _Mess with us?"_ Tony heard his thoughts over all the commotion and sudden realization hit him.

Strong hands managed to get Howard off of Tony. With a deep breath, Tony's face regained its normal color. Someone was shouting but all Tony could hear was his thoughts telling him the was stupid for not noticing what, besides being in the past, was off.

"Anthony?"

Tony's eyes shifted to a still blurry Steve.

"Are you okay?"

With a slight glare, Tony gave Steve a small shove as he sat up, refusing to accept the man's opened hand to help him up. Several people were in the room now. Howard had been dragged out of the room, but his vulgar screams could still be heard. The sound of women's shoes walking towards them made Tony look over his shoulder.

"You must be Anthony. We've heard about you."

"Anthony, this is Peggy Carter. She's-"

Tony interrupted Steve by putting his hand up. "I know who she is."

Tony avoided Steve's gaze as he remembered everything he had ever heard about Peggy. She was Steve's girl. The one that got away. The one he would always love. Hell, she was _the_ one and here was Tony, stupidly, thinking he and Steve had a connection. Add that to the list of stupid information Tony didn't take into account.

"Steve, I was just with Bucky. He's doing better. He should wake up soon…"

Peggy's voice began to sound distant as Tony turned away from them.

' _I can't believe you thought you had a chance with Steve.'_

Tony mentally smacked the voice in his head. It didn't matter what relationship started with Steve now. It didn't matter that Peggy made an appearance. Especially if he was right on what he was thinking. His fingers started to itch for a drink when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Anthony?"

Steve sounded different. Like his voice was wrapped by technology. Or maybe even magic…

Tony reluctantly turned to meet Steve's eyes and a small gasp escaped his lips when blue eyes flashed a quick hint of green. Sometimes Tony hated being right.

"Steve.. when I asked you what year this was, what did you say?" Tony didn't face the confused Steve as he questioned him.

"1945. Anthony what's this about?"

Tony slowly turned and gave Steve a sad smile.

"This isn't real.."

Steve forced a chuckle. "Anthony, what are you talking about?"

Tony noticed that Peggy was gone. He couldn't help but laugh before he spoke.

"I was so distracted by how I got here. Then I saw my father and I didn't even think. You became Captain America in 1942. This mission you were going to go on wasn't until 1943. Loki needs to get his dates right."

Steve's eyes lit up with green for a split second as his mouth twitched into a fake smile. "Anthony that's ridiculous."

"What's ridiculous is that I didn't realize that sooner."

"If that's true, ask me something only I would know. I can prove this is real." Steve sounded annoyed .

Tony thought for a moment. He needed to think of something Steve should know, that Loki wouldn't. Then it hit him.

"What did you do to prove you were the right man for the super soldier experiment?"

Steve's eyes stayed green for a moment longer than usual.

Tony took his stunned silence as an answer.

"Nice try Loki." Tony gloated sadly.

"I am impressed. You caught me sooner than expected." Loki's voice left Steve's lips as his eyes were completely green like Howard's had been.

Tony smiled at the man, putting on that mask of confidence once again.

"I should have known I'd use incorrect dates. No matter, just because you caught me this time, doesn't mean you will next time. And don't worry…"

Tony felt cold as his chest tightened up.

"Your friendside are being taken care of."

With Loki's words echoing in the playboy's ears, the image of a wicked Steve and his surroundings vanished leaving Tony in the dark he hated so much.

The sound of water dripping onto a cave floor was the only thing that let Tony believe he was still alive.


	8. Bridges

Memory was a funny thing. Sometimes it changes on its own. Other times you remember something over another a little too well. Then, there are those times when something causes your memory to change. Maybe you remember something new or you forget your phone number.

Or in Steve Rogers' case, you forget someone important to you.

"What comes to mind when you hear the name Stark?"

Bruce sat across from Steve at the small table that lived in Clint's, not so secret anymore, house. Natasha had apologized for returning to Laura several times when they arrived. Even though she said it was no trouble, there was a cloud of annoyance from her directed at Clint.

It was nearly two in the morning and Steve still couldn't remember the unforgettable Tony Stark.

"Stark? Like Howard Stark?" Steve looked innocent while he spoke.

Natasha had showed up, alerting Bruce of her arrival by placing her hand on his shoulder.

"It makes absolutely no sense that he knows who Howard is but not his son." She furrowed her eyebrows at Bruce.

"Howard has a son? That's incredible!" Steve nearly jumped out of his seat from excitement, only to sink back down when Clint shushed him from the other room, reminding them that his kids were asleep.

"I think we should call it a night. Forcing you to remember Tony won't help." Natasha muttered as she turned to leave.

Bruce sighed as Steve's face fell into a look of confusion and sadness. He didn't understand why the team was on edge over this Tony character but that didn't mean he was stupid. He understood that Loki had done something. Apparently the unthinkable. Yet it was still a mystery as to why steal a human being from someone's memory was his choice of attack.

With a deep sigh, Steve stood up from the table. "Maybe this is just a waste of time. For whatever reason Loki does not want me to know your friend."

"That's the thing Steve. He's your friend too." Natasha's words sounded wounded. Like the idea of Steve and Tony not being friends hurt her more than anything. A hint of something Steve couldn't figure out flashed in her eyes as she walked out of the room.

Bruce gave Steve a sad smile before he spoke. "How about tomorrow I just tell you all about him. Maybe a memory will stick and everything will come flooding back."

"Who knows. You're theory that magic eventually wears off might be true. But I guess that's the only plan we have for now so why not. Thanks Bruce." Steve's smile wasn't as happy as before but it still held the innocence that his oblivious state caused.

Once Bruce had left the room, Steve looked at his surroundings hoping that something in the room would bring back his memory. There was a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach as he thought about how he didn't know why he wanted to remember. I mean sure they were supposedly friends, Tony and him, but it still confused him why remembering this man was one of his top priorities.

That night Steve dreamt of a blurry shadow with a blue light emitting from its chest.

"Bad or good?"

"Excuse me?"

Steve raised an eyebrow at Clint as he joined the Captain in the kitchen the next morning.

"I'm here to tell you my stories about Stark. Do you want the good or bad?"

Steve bit his bottom lip as he debated. His forehead wore a line of worry that Clint couldn't understand. He assumed that Steve just didn't want to think about bad things that Tony had done even though he can't remember.

"Which are there more of?" Steve finally questioned.

Clint answered with a hiss.

Steve rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Tell me the first that comes to mind."

Clint looked up at the ceiling as if it held the answers. After a few moments of silence he let out a loud breath through his nose.

"When I hear the name Tony Stark, my first thought isn't that he's Iron Man. It use to be but now it's not, and that's because of what happened _after_ New York. After our first fight with Loki."

Steve instantly remembered the battle but noticed it was fuzzy, which proved that Tony must have been there. Especially on account of him not remembering how they won exactly.

"We had all regrouped on the Helicarrier and as soon as Fury dismissed us, Stark rushed out of the room unnoticed by everyone. Or so he thought. I followed and eventually found him in the lab he and Banner worked in. He was hiding in the corner, arms over his head as he rocked himself. I've seen fear but never on him. The way he jumped when I walked towards him… I'll never forget it."

"What happened?" Steve couldn't help but ask. The story was causing him to worry for this unknown man's well being.

"I tried getting closer but I froze when I saw… a gun. He kept muttering about what he saw when he flew the nuke into the portal. He then started whispering about how he nearly died. How dark it was. He said there was nothing. Just darkness. I had a feeling all of his past building up with that battle added caused him to think of grabbing a gun, but I'll never know."

"He flew a nuke into a portal? He almost died? He wanted to… _kill himself_?" Steve was on the edge of his seat.

Clint chuckled. "Oh yea. You probably won't remember that nuke part. But, yea. I think he would have ended it that day. Especially, after he was practically dead for a moment." Clint frowned at the thought but continued. "Anyways I quickly grabbed the gun and threw it across the room and before he could react, I sat next to him and made him lean on my shoulder until he calmed down and fell asleep. When he woke up he made me promise not to tell the team. The point of the story is, you're going to hear a lot of stories about how bad he his, but deep down, he's a scared kid who has everything and nothing at the same time. He wants to prove himself to all the people he doesn't think care."

Steve looked down at the table that occupied the space between him and Clint.

"He's a good guy.."

Clint smiled at Steve's words before getting up and leaving. Steve almost jumped when the archer's voice shouted back from the other room.

"He's a hero. Even without the Iron Man suit."

Steve smiled at that before he decided to find Thor, hoping the God found a way to bring his memory back.

"Memory is a mystery, Captain."

Steve sighed at Thor's shouted information. "Okay. If you figure anything out please don't hesitate to tell me."

Before Steve could walk back into the house, Thor had moved in front of him. "Wait, don't you want to hear my story of Anthony?"

Thor looked like a child excited for ice cream. Steve could only assume that meant this story was a happier one than Clint's. Sure Clint's story was important, but Steve didn't like the idea of one of his friends wanting to die. Even if he had no memory of said friend.

"Go ahead Thor. I didn't realize you wanted to tell one."

"Ah yes. The Man of Iron. Great warrior. Superior mind. Small stature."

"What does his height have anything to do with this?" Steve chuckled.

"It is one of the first things that come to mind."

Steve couldn't tell if Thor was serious or just trying to bring a good mood into the atmosphere, but he nodded his head to approve Thor's continuation of the story.

"A small amount of time after our battle with my brother, I had return to the Avengers Tower to bring the news of Loki's imprisonment, thinking the team would like to know. Only when I arrived the only one there was Anthony. He had been highly intoxicated when I found him. I'm not sure he recognized me at first."

Steve grimaced. So this story wasn't exactly a good one yet. He hoped it got better.

"I believed he was going to let all his secrets out without realizing it as I have seen some mortals do when they've been drinking too long. Only he didn't. He eventually realized it was me and became sad. Maybe even distraught. He asked me if I was okay. If I needed anything to brighten my mood. To lift my heavy heart after what Loki had done. I'll never forget what lesson he taught me. No matter what they do wrong, the consequences they face hurt us just as much as their actions. Because they're still family."

Steve's eyes widened. "After what happened to him in New York, he was worried about others over himself?"

Thor nodded with a small smile. It was then that Steve noticed how tires Thor looked. He shouldn't look tired. He was a God after all. Steve hated to think that he's never thought about Thor being a complex person. Obviously there was more to the man other than shouting and Poptarts. He was a family man and it appeared to be that he related with Tony very well on the subject of family. Steve began to wonder about Tony's family. What had gone so wrong?

"Thor?" Steve keeps his eyes on the horizon. A distant look falls over them.

"Yes Captain?"

"Why are you the only one who calls him Anthony?"

"Well it is his name after all, but I believe using someone's real name is an example of respect. Just like calling you my Captain is a respectful way of showing I trust you as my leader. With Anthony, I use his name to show he is respected as a friend, because I don't believe he understands he is our friend."

Steve hums a sound of understanding. The rest of the team know they're respected. They know they're all friends. They don't need to be called by their first name or reminded that they are cared for. It wounds Steve to think that Tony probably doesn't see Thor's use of his name that way. He probably saw it as Thor not understanding this world fully.

Steve didn't realize how long he had been lost in thought until he looked around to see Thor had disappeared. With a loud exhale through his nose, Steve shoved his hands into his pockets and turned to walk into the house.

Steve decided he liked Natasha's story the best.

"He likes you."

"Well yea, aren't we friends?"

It warms the super soldier's stomach when she chuckles.

"Sure Steve. But he told me. I'm not sure why. But one day we were in the kitchen of the tower and he blurted it out. The way his eyes grew wide as he slapped his hand over his mouth will always make me laugh. My story is short Steve but it gets right to the point. He doesn't think he has much so I'm glad he has you."

With that she stood up from the couch the two of them had occupied.

Steve furrowed his eyebrows together while he fell deeper into thought. "Wait, why was he embarrassed about it?" Steve yelled after he wanting more answers as his face gained a red tint.

"Bruce, no offense, but you said you'd tell me stories. This is turning into a classroom environment."

Steve knew Bruce meant well but he could barely pay attention. There were too many details being thrown at him.

"Oh right. Sorry. Um okay, how about I tell you the origin story of Iron Man?" A hint of concern dripped out of Bruce's throat at the mention of the story.

Steve decided he hated this story. Not because of anything Tony did, but what was done to Tony. This time he could barely pay attention because his mood had dropped drastically. All he could remember for sure were a few key bits of information.

" _He watched soldiers being killed by his own weapons."_

" _He nearly died."_

" _He had a car battery hooked into his chest."_

" _The man who saved him died."_

" _He created the Iron Man suit in a cave."_

" _He had to fight his way out."_

" _He told me he has nightmares about that cave."_

Steve wasn't sure why that last sentence stuck with him. All he knew is he hoped he could help Tony anyway possible. Little did he know all Tony could see at that exact moment was a darkly lit cave and the car battery hooked back into his chest.


	9. Litost

Pain shot through Tony's chest as he woke with a start. Above him he could barely see a familiar darkness that you usually find in caves. His heart began to pick up pace as he realized where he was. With speed he didn't realize he had, he grabbed at his chest and began to tear at all the layers of clothing over him. Once his eyes landed on the foreign, but not so foreign intrusion, he let out a scream, letting his hands shake from fear as they inched towards the original arc reactor.

"You're awake?"

Tony instantly twisted to look at who spoke, but regretted it when he pulled at the mechanical heart in his body. He let out another scream from pain instead of fear, as he tried to stop himself from falling off his rather uncomfortable sleeping position.

"I recommend not doing that. You've just gone through a rather painful procedure, my friend."

Tony hissed as he sat up slower, noticing the familiarity of the voice that spoke to him.

"Yinsen?"

"Mr. Stark?"

What Tony would guess is joy overtook him. There Yinsen sat from across the cave. Eyes full of warmth were directed at Tony.

"How did I get here? Why am I back?"

Tony tried standing, only to become light headed and fall back into his seat. He let out another pained yelp when he landed. Yinsen watched him with his eyebrows furrowed in a look of confusion. Almost like he was debating if he should tell Tony the truth or not.

With a deep sigh, Yinsen spoke. "You're not back Tony."

Tony wasn't sure if he should feel relieved that this wasn't real or not. Yinsen's words informed him that this was indeed another one of Loki's tricks. But, that also meant everything has already happened. That meant Yinsen was still dead. Fear climbed into Tony's throat as he thought about that. What if Loki's plan was to make him relive the moment he _failed_ Yinsen. The genius wasn't sure he could live with that.

"I can hear your mind working. Calm yourself. Yes, this isn't real. But in a way it is. Instead of placing you in a different reality, your enemy has decided to trap you in your own mind."

"So, I'm dreaming?"

"Not quite."

"Memory?"

"Technically."

"What does that mean?"

"I was not part of Loki's imprisonment plan."

"So you're imaginary."

"The dead works in mysterious ways, Mr. Stark, but I am not an imaginary friend."

"You know, you're not much help."

"I'm the only help, you've got right now."

Tony looked down at his hands. They were covered in dirt and blood. With a quick look around the cave, Tony could tell that every detail was nearly perfect.

"While I can explain many things, you have to remember I can not explain magic. Very much like yourself."

Tony snorted. "I hate magic."

Yinsen chuckled and nodded. "Agreed."

No one entered the room they were trapped in like before, those many years ago. No one tortured him. No one forced him to make weapons. Yet, Tony still felt his fear rising as the hours ticked by. The level of fear he felt seemed higher than the actual event he was reliving. He began to realize it was never the people he feared those many years ago. Or what they did to him. Not even all the possibilities they had if he made those weapons. It was the cave itself. The darkness had become the worst part. It was the one thing he never got over and he wasn't too sure as to why. Tony was trapped in a dark cave once again. It was then he realized he's never left that cave. It just became his mind.

"Once again, I can hear you thinking."

Tony chuckled at the wall he had been staring at. "Is that because this is my mind?"

"I guess you could say that."

A loud, annoyed groan escaped Tony as he turned away from the blank wall and faced Yinsen. His side of the cave seemed brighter and more organized than Tony's. All Tony had on his side was trash, darkness, and most likely his own blood on the dirt floor. For some reason that irritated the billionaire even more.

"Enough with these riddles. Is there anything you can tell me that is useful?" Tony fought the urge to pull out his hair. Even if none of this was actually real, it still pissed him off to the end of the world and back. Tony needed answers, not an epiphany. Or so he hoped.

Yinsen let out a loud sigh. "The reason I'm here is to keep you from going insane. I'm your voice of reason."

"Well, Jiminy Cricket, this is all fine and dandy but don't you have better things to do other than be my conscience? Besides I'm not some wooden puppet who wants to be a real boy." Tony snapped. Usually he'd hate the idea of getting angry at Yinsen, but after sitting in this cave for what seems like hours, anger didn't exactly hide.

"You're right. You're not a wooden puppet. You're a metal one. And metal is all the more difficult to break down. Yes, Mr. Stark?"

Tony hated how right Yinsen was. He turned away with a low grumble, deciding to face the wall once more. His mind began to race with plans and ideas that might get him out of this mess.

"You cannot hide from the world, Tony. It needs you."

"What if I don't want to be a hero anymore?"

Yinsen shook his head, even though Tony couldn't see him. "No. It doesn't need you to be Iron Man. It doesn't need you to save it."

Tony shrugged with a loud snort. "Then what does the world need me for?"

When Yinsen didn't answer right away, Tony slowly looked over his shoulder. The smile the man before him wore made Tony feel safe.

"The world needs you to make it beautiful."

With a blink of an eye, Yinsen was gone, and Tony had never felt more alone.

"So this is your mind? It's a little empty. Aren't you suppose to be a genius?"

Tony shot straight up from his "sleeping" position at the sound of a new voice.

"Rhodey? How did..? What..?"

"Empty mind and speechless mouth. You're full of surprises today aren't you?" Rhodey stood before Tony and flashed him a bright grin. He wore the same outfit he had on the night of the Avengers farewell party for Thor. The day Ultron attacked. The day that lead to more arguments and distrust between the team. Tony shook his head to rid himself of the thought.

"How the hell did you get here?"

Rhodey laughed for an excruciatingly long time, if you asked Tony.

"Jesus, you seem rather optimistic in this situation."

"Tony, when are you gonna learn this isn't real? Sure I'm Rhodes, but I'm not really him. I'm part of your mind. That's a good word for it too. Optimism. Yea. I'm your optimism in the form of Rhodey."

Tony squinted at the mental imposter of his friend. "Great. I'm actually going crazy. Okay, oh optimistic one, why are you here?"

Another laugh. "To help. To remind you that you can get out of this. After all you are Tony Stark. You can do anything."

"The real Rhodey would never be this nice. He'd make fun of me while giving me advice."

"Hey, I'm just doing what your mind says you need. Don't get sassy with me." Rhodey put his hands up in mock surrender.

Tony couldn't help but laugh. Rhodey always got him in a good mood.

"Go to sleep, Tony. When you wake up things will be different, but I promise you can do this."

"And if I don't?" A smirk pulled at Tony's lips.

"You get out of this quick, the sooner you can try and get with Cap." Rhodey laughed.

This Rhodey was definitely part of Tony's mind. There was no way the real Rhodey would have any clue about Tony's interest in the super soldier. Still, Tony had to laugh at the thought. Mainly because it was funny, but to also help calm his excited nerves. Just the thought of Steve made Tony's face heat up. He wished he hated that more than he did.

Rhodey laughed once again as he walked forward and hugged Tony. "Go to sleep."

Just like Yinsen had, Rhodey was gone leaving Tony in the dark once more.

"Come on! Go to sleep!"

Tony knew Loki was doing something to him this very instant. Rhodey told him to sleep, and now he couldn't sleep. It had been what felt like days since Rhodey appeared. He felt cold and hungry. His throat was so dry, his voice was barely audible.

"Loki I swear, get out of my head."

No one else showed up. No more voices in his head. No more help. Just the memory of those who had disappeared as quickly as the came.

" _The world needs you to make it beautiful."_

" _Go to sleep. When you wake things will be different."_

None of their words made much sense, but that was all Tony had. He figured he needed to sleep to make the world pretty. God, he hated how sweet Yinsen's words were. He didn't even want to say any of that sentence out loud.

"Go to sleep. Should be easy, but no. I'm more awake than I've ever been in my adult life. Bullshit, that's what this is."

Every time Tony yelled at what he assumed was Loki, he would look up. He knew if it was really Loki messing with him, he'd be looking down at Tony's break down. The action reminded Tony of Steve when talking to JARVIS. Before he became Vision. It brought a smile to the playboy's sunken face.

"Aw. You're thinking about me."

Tony didn't need to turn to know who had appeared.

"Hey Steve."

"No Cap? Not even a Capsicle? What about old man?"

Tony smiled a weak smile. "Not today."

Tony jumped when Steve sat down next to him. A strong arm wrapped around Tony and pulled him over until his heavy head rested on a warm shoulder.

"You're not real."

"No."

"You're here… to _help._ Am I right?"

"You know me so well."

A soft laugh left Tony's lips as he closed his eyes. He could have sworn that Steve had started humming as he rocked back and forth. Steve's strong hand had weaved its way to Tony's hair, and slowly he began to rub gentle shapes on Tony's scalp. Tony had never felt more relaxed. He let out a deep sigh as he let the wave of exhaustion sweep over him. His voice came out as a mumble when he spoke.

"Your part of my mind. Which part?"

Tony could feel the smile that grew on Steve's face.

"Hope."

When Tony woke up, his head hurt. Opening his eyes only made it worse. Everything was to bright. A mumbled voiced spoke to him. He couldn't remember anything. All he could remember was Loki attacking again. He did something to Steve's mind. Something about time as he spoke to Tony.

"I must have hit my head hard." Tony's voice was a whisper as he opened his eyes completely.

"Are you okay?"

Above Tony was a grey sky. He could feel grass on the bak of his neck and hands. Strong hands where pulling at the side of his face, trying to get his attention. Then his eyes met bright blue ones.

"Sir, are you okay?"

"Steve?"

Before Tony was Steve, once again in his military attire. A look of fear and confusion flashed over his dirty face.

"How do you know my name?"

"What? You look like.. I mean.."

"I'm going to assume I look familiar. Do you know where you are?"

Tony began to think about the last thing he could remember.

" _How can you stop me this time, if you aren't in this time?"_

"What year is it? I can't really remember anything right now." Tony wasn't exactly lying.

Steve raised an eyebrow at Tony. "Uh, 1942. Are you okay?"

The feeling that everything was too familiar smacked Tony in the face, at the same time the feeling of panic shocked him to his core. All thought flew out one ear as he became dizzy. Tony's vision became blurry as he fainted, completely missing the way Steve's eyes flashed with green.


	10. Smother

" _ **Explosion after explosion here in Time Square as we see several Iron Man suits attacking the city instead of saving it. No information on the reason behind billionaire Tony Stark's invention hostile intentions, yet no one seems to even know the whereabouts of said genius. Reports have been flooding in claiming that witnesses believe all suits are empty even though Stark's voice has been heard making comments from multiple suits of armor. Is this hero Tony Stark gone villain? Where are the Avengers and why haven't they stopped this destruction? Have all heroes gone bad? Stay tuned for all of this and more. Once again, I'm-"**_

The news reporter didn't even get to say her name as a suit of armor flew by, missiles firing from its shoulder. The TV screen glowed with colors of orange and yellow as another explosion occurred. The camera fell to the side, cracking once it hit the ground. The only thing it now showed was the young news reporter, only this time she too was on her side, eyes wide open, as blood dripped from her mouth. A rather nasty gash on her head made it obviously clear she was killed instantly.

Cheesy music took the its place on the TV as the words _technical difficulties_ flashed by.

Steve began to feel sick as he quickly turned the TV off. He mentally cheered as he realized he was the only one in the room Clint's family let him stay in. No one else had seen that report. Unless they watched it individually. Steve's main concern was Clint's children seeing it. The feeling of being sick washed over him again, causing him to push the thought aside. Blue eyes gave the room a quick look over for what felt like the hundredth time. This room had a feeling of familiarity to it. Clint had said Tony had shared this room with him the last time they were here all together. Apparently, the room hadn't been used since then. The air had an unknown scent to it and Steve could only assume that was the, oddly intoxicating, smell of the man he had forgotten.

It was now day four since their arrival at the Barton household. Loki has taken over technology instead of people and sadly, it was working. They were nearly found by one of the Iron Man suits the day before, but thankfully Bruce managed to scramble all tracking devices in the area. If something that could track them got to close, all of its locating systems would fail and redirect it to another random location. Steve didn't want to question exactly how Bruce figured that out with such short notice. Even with the lessons on all things Tony Stark taking up most of the team's time.

Steve had even started taking notes.

" _He's one of the smartest guys I know."_

" _He doesn't like being handed things."_

" _He doesn't know that we know he has panic attacks."_

" _I'm not kidding when I say he can cook anything except pancakes."_

The super soldier often caught himself laughing at the notes about food. But that laughter would always fade. He knew the team was only saying all the good things Tony has done and if Steve was being honest, he really liked everything about Tony so far. The only person who would bring up anything less positive was Bruce, but even those bits of information weren't as bad as Steve knew they could be. He didn't want to know that bad stuff. The team wasn't going to tell him, and the one time Steve googled the genius, the amount of negative comments really pissed him off so that was off limits.

With a deep sigh, Steve began pacing the small room. His hand lightly brushed against a small dresser and at that moment, a chill ran up his spine. Green lights took over his vision as a familiar voice echoed in his ears.

" _You could have just told us your plan to make Ultron. You do know that, right Tony?"_

 _There Tony stood, back facing Steve who sat on the bed, as the genius shoved clothes around a small dresser with a noticeable hint of anger._

" _Tony?"_

" _Mh?"_

" _You can tell me whatever it is that's bothering you."_

 _Tony's shoulders were shaking as he remained silent._

" _Tony."_

" _No Steve. I can't tell you. If I told you, you'd all see how fucked up my mind is." Tony was now facing Steve._

 _Steve only raised an eyebrow. He knew if he remained oblivious, Tony would feel the need to explain._

" _Don't you get it?" Steve liked being right sometimes. "I made him to protect everyone. I can't lose you… you guys. I can't lose you guys. Down there with Loki's scepter I had some sort of hallucination, probably my PTSD, and everything was gone. Dead. Except me. I was the one who didn't do more. I…"_

 _Steve hated being right sometimes as he saw tears roll down Tony's face. He quickly jumped up from the bed and stood in front of Tony. For some reason he let his hand rest on Tony's cheek as he wiped the tears away. Steve's face heated up as he acknowledged how right the small action of reassurance felt._

" _When are you going to believe me when I say we fight together? I don't care if it's something attacking the world or something in your head. We are in this together."_

 _Tony avoided eye contact while he spoke. "If it's in my head, what happens if I lose?"_

" _We'll do that together too."_

The bright green lights vanished from Steve's eyes leaving him light headed as he let out a loud breath from shock. His brain began processing everything that flashed before his eyes. Joy overtook him as realization hit him. It was a memory. He just remembered a conversation with Tony Stark. He remembered _Tony Stark._ Deep in the pit of his stomach a strange feeling he didn't fully understand pinched him.

All he understood was he needed to tell someone. As he ran towards the doorway his arm brushed against the frame of the bed causing his eyes to go green once again.

 _The small clock on the nightstand glowed 3:48 in the morning. Steve sat on the bed, legs crossed, as he faced Tony who took up the other half of the bed. Tony was sprawled out on his back, arms folded behind his head, letting his eyes scan the ceiling. Even with the light out the look on his face showed he was most likely looking for something._

" _Tony?"_

" _Hmm?"_

" _Are you okay?"_

" _Peachy."_

 _Steve sighed as he rolled his eyes. Once they found his way back to Tony, he couldn't help but notice how much he appreciated the way Tony's face looked at this moment. He seemed slightly more relaxed than usual and even if it was only a slight change, Steve still enjoyed the thought of Tony being less on edge._

" _Tony. Really, are you okay?"_

 _This time Tony didn't answer. He didn't even look at Steve._

" _Tony, you're allowed to not be okay."_

 _The only response Steve got was a small chuckle._

 _With another sigh, Steve shifted until he was on his back. "Alright. We should sleep."_

 _Tony sat upright instantly. "Sleep? Now? But there's only one bed. I mean not that it's a problem or anything. That doesn't mean I want to share a bed with you… what I'm trying to say is-"_

 _Steve nearly jumped out of his skin when Tony flew off the bed, arms wrapped around himself as if he was cold. Only Steve could tell he was trying to make himself small. Trying to hide._

" _Look, I'm just not tired. You should sleep. I'm gonna… go I don't know. I'll find something to do. Sorry I kept you up."_

" _Tony."_

 _Surprisingly, the genius stopped walking away._

 _Steve weighed his options before he spoke. The way Tony was acting either showed he was uncomfortable and wanted to get away from the super soldier, or he was uncomfortable but wanted to get closer. Steve's heart skidded in his chest. He honestly liked the idea of the second thought._

" _Come back to bed."_

 _He didn't know why he chose those words. Even with his lack of knowledge of the way people spoke now, Steve still knew that those words in that order could and most likely meant something more and even though he couldn't see Tony's face, he knew the billionaire's mind was swinging between a rock and a hard place._

 _Without a word, Tony inched his way back to the bed, still avoiding Steve's gaze. Instead of climbing back onto the bed, the genius opted to stand there and worry at the back of his neck new with his hand._

 _Eventually, Steve assumed Tony was waiting for something, so the blonde sat up until he was directly in front of Tony. Steve had to fight a laugh as he noticed the while he was sitting and Tony was standing, they were now the same height._

" _Thank you."_

" _What?"_

" _You heard me, Steve. I said thank you."_

" _I don't understand."_

" _Of course not. You've been nothing but helpful ever since this morning."_

" _That's because I now understand why you did what you did. It shouldn't have mattered though. You're my friend. I should have been there from the beginning."_

 _Tony didn't speak. Instead he surprised Steve by pulling him into a strong hug. Even if he was surprised, Steve didn't hesitate to return the hug. In Steve's mind, the hug ended too soon. Once he got a look at Tony's face he could have sworn he could see red slowly covering the playboy's cheeks. The look in those brown eyes showed Tony was debating something._

 _Nothing could prevent Steve from remembering this moment._

 _Tony took a deep breath in and squeezed his eyes shut as he fell forward and gave Steve a peck on the cheek. The heat on the man's face was so extreme, Steve was surprised his own face didn't burn. The only burn he felt was the bush that creeped onto his own face._

 _No one spoke. They just stared at each other. Steve's jaw had dropped, leaving his mouth open in an almost comical way, while Tony looked like he was still holding his breath._

" _Uh…s-sorry?"_

Once the green vanished once again, Steve nearly fell over. This memory seemed so much longer and far more emotional. Not a sad emotional like the first one. This was more than anything Steve had ever felt. Not even when he had a short click with Peggy. Sure he loved her, but so did probably every other guy back then. This though, this was far more complicated and strangely scary. Since day one the great Captain America and the incredible Iron Man couldn't get along.

It was now more than ever Steve wanted all his memories back.

" _ **We interrupt your previously planned broadcast to show you exclusive footage of what can only be called one of the worst days in American history. The attacks caused by Tony Stark's suit have yet to stop and yet there is still no sign of the rest of the Avengers. I now speak to all the viewers remaining in the city as another person instead of a news reporter. Hide as best as you can. Do whatever you have to do to protect whoever is left in New York. To anyone outside of New York, I honestly don't know if the destruction will stop here or continue to the rest of the world. Either way, all I have to say is that if there is anyone out there who can save us, please help. Even if you aren't an Avenger. Even if the only hero out there is us civilians. Even if we have to join together and do the hero work for those "heroes" out there. Help us stop the villain known as Tony Stark. Even if that means we have to kill him...**_


	11. Scared

"By Odin's beard, what gave it away?"

Standing directly in front of Tony was a mischievous looking Bucky Barnes. The only thing that appeared to be wrong with him was his now vibrant green eyes and the slightly annoyed voice that belonged to Loki.

"Well, let's see, maybe it was the fact that you mentioned Iron Man" The noticeably exhausted genius waved his hands in the air to get his point across.

"Explain." Loki's voice ordered as Bucky crossed his arms.

Tony rolled his eyes, aiming for a laid back reaction but all that was readable on his face was insomnia and depression. He couldn't remember for sure but based on the way Loki was acting, the trickster has done this to Tony before. Only Tony was truly unaware that Loki has restarted this fake past over seven times now, erasing the billionaire's mind each and every time. All of the magic flowing into the playboy's brain was definitely taking a toll on the man. Each redo was slowly breaking his spirit, and he wasn't even aware of it.

"Isn't it obvious? I haven't mentioned Iron Man yet. No one here knows what that is. God, why am I explaining this to you?"

Loki chuckled. "Your mortal mind wants to be accepted so badly, you can't stop yourself from showing off how quickly you can figure out a problem. You explained because you know you can."

"Whatever, just work the magic and mess with me some more." Tony waved his hand in a circular motion as if to say move it along.

"You're lucky I enjoy watching you suffer. If I didn't I would have ended your miserable life as soon as I saw you." Loki's voice growled.

"Good to know. Can we speed this up?"

Loki grumbled something that barely reached Tony's ears.

"You seem very annoyed. Is it because I figured it out? Or maybe the other Avengers are giving you a hard time. Is that it? Are they outsmarting you again?" Tony smirked.

With a wave of his hand 'Bucky' turned into Loki as the setting around them disappeared. Tony was back in that cave. Even if he couldn't remember the past times he had been there before.

"Home sweet home?" Tony questioned the silence as he dragged his feet towards what was now his bed, only the genius could guess he wouldn't be getting any sleep once again. While the past sleepless nights were a forgotten memory, the lack of sleep was unforgettable. His eyes were sore, lights gave him headaches, he had become very off balanced, and his muscles felt as weak as the lead in a mechanical pencil. Too much more of this and Tony was sure he'd die. He didn't pray for the others to save him. But just because he didn't believe there was someone to pray to, didn't mean he wasn't internally begging for a savior. Or maybe even relief from this hell.

Like many times before, Tony was right. He did not sleep a blink that night. Or for the following four nights he wouldn't remember.

• **Present Day•**

"That's another Loki Bot down. Where to next Cap?"

Clint's voice mumbled into the ear pieces that each team member was using to hear one another as they scattered through the city. After a whole day of debating, they eventually agreed that Loki has had his fun and it was time to, how Tony would say, 'bring the party to him.'

"Out of all the places for Loki to go, what's the one place that would have the most meaning to him?" Steve asked as he propelled himself over a destroyed support beam that had once belonged to a small coffee shop that the team had gone to on several occasions. Only in Steve's mind, a particular snarky billionaire was still slightly blurry in the memory.

"Avengers Tower? That's where we stopped him last time?" Natasha suggested.

Clint shook his head, as he ran across a small building he was using to hide, even though the others couldn't see him. "No, too obvious. Loki is an ass but he's not stupid."

"Perhaps my brother has opted for a different state. Somewhere where he'd still have access to Anthony's suits of armor." Thor announced as he flew as low as possible through the deserted city.

"Thor's got a point. Loki wouldn't want to stay in one place for too long. Just like we don't." Bruce sat in the back of what was left of a van the team had found for him while they searched for any survivors after Loki's attack. Only now, the world believed it was Tony who had gone villain.

"Fuck.."

"Nat what's wrong?" Steve raised an eyebrow at how distressed the normally neutral assassin.

"Loki is a trickster. He would want to confuse us. Him going somewhere of important makes too much sense. So that leaves somewhere important for someone else. Only Thor is right. He'd have to be somewhere to access Tony's suits."

Bruce's eyes grew wide as Natasha's words sunk in. "Tony.."

"Tony." Natasha confirmed.

"Malibu." Clint joined in. "It makes sense. It's definitely not where I'd expect him to go but if he wants to confuse us and use Stark technology that'd be the best choice."

"Well let's get moving team. If we want to stop Loki we have to move fast." Bruce ordered over the headset.

"Actually, first things first. How do we get him to bring Tony back?" Steve questioned as he turned down an alleyway that resembled a pile of rubble more than anything.

"We can figure that out on the way. We'll just have to hope that whatever Tony is going though, he can handle for a while longer." even Natasha sounded unsure of her words.

Steve decided not to argue and delay the plan any further for now. With a heavy sigh he reluctantly agreed. "Alright. Let's get going."

●" **The Cave"●**

Tony let out a sigh from exhaustion as Steve's eyes went green for, unknowingly, the thirteenth time.

"Please just stop."

"What's wrong?"

"Don't." Tony snapped.

Steve chuckled, Loki's obnoxious laugh filling the air instead of the super soldier's. "It seems that you're running out of patience and one liners."

"Mhm." Tony waved a hand over his shoulder as he walked towards a chair off to the side. With obvious annoyance, he collapsed into it, eyes falling shut as soon as he was somewhat comfortable.

Loki hummed at the sight, the illusion of Steve disappearing as he cautiously walked towards the genius.

"You've become boring. Stop it. I command you." Loki nudged a half asleep Tony as he spoke with slight confusion in his voice.

"Or what? You'll kill me?"

"Well I guess I could. But, that's really no fun." Loki smirked as he crossed his arms.

At that moment, Tony had an idea. Loki liked having fun. He enjoyed playing games and tricks. So what better way to stop him than by tricking the tricksters himself.

"Fun. I know what could be fun." Tony smirked for the first time in a long time. At least he assumed it was a long time. At his words Loki perked up like a small dog.

"Tell me. Now."

"Well, you want to mess with me so I can only assume you'd like to mess with the others. Maybe, Thor perhaps?"

Loki raised an eyebrow. "I'm listening."

"Let me go and bring them to you. I promise not to bother you if you don't bother me once you have them captured." the idea of betraying the team hurt Tony deep down. He knew what it felt like to be betrayed by someone you care about so he refused to do it to anyone now. Only in this situation, he needed Loki to let him think he was that selfish asshole everyone assumed he was. Of course he was going to warn them if Loki let him go. The trick was getting him to let him leave in the first place.

Loki stared Tony in the eyes, refusing to break his gaze. He only moved after what felt an eternal moment, to grab Tony by the throat, continuing the eye contact.

"You're different from when we first met. I can see it in your eyes. You expect me to believe you could turn your friends over without a second glance, but you forget I've seen what's in your head. You care. And you lie. Besides how can I let you leave here when we aren't really here?" without another word Loki backed away and slowly disappeared into the air around them, leaving Tony in a confused, out of breath state.

After the genius caught his breath, already feeling a bruise on his neck forming, he looked around the cave with panic in his eyes. He could feel an anxiety attack creeping up on him.

"If we aren't in this cave, where are we?"

● **Present Day●**

The ride to Malibu was silent and excruciatingly slow. It was risky but they technically had to steal a Quinjet from the remains of Stark Tower. Loki might be able to receive a warning that they were on their way but Clint suggested going stealth mode. The risk remained high seeing that Loki could track them with magic most likely. The team wasn't sure what they'd find there. Hell they weren't even sure Tony actually rebuilt the place after the attack. The only reassurance was Natasha who swore something was out there. Even if Tony had refused to go back to that place.

Sadly they couldn't use JARVIS for help. If Loki was using the Iron Man technology that meant the AI was compromised in some form and because it was magic, Bruce couldn't exactly figure out how to stop it.

The landing wasn't close to their target at all. Clint and Natasha figured that while the rest of the team readied up, the two should do some recon and scout ahead. Once the assassins were gone, Steve removed his Captain America helmet and sighed.

"Bruce, what if he's not there?"

"Loki or…?"

"You know who I'm asking about."

Bruce rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. "Well then, I guess we keep looking."

"For Loki or…?"

Bruce chuckled. "You know who I'm talking about."

At that moment, a loud alarm went off inside the Quinjet. Red lights flashed on all screens as the aircraft began to descend.

"Banner, what is happening?" Clint questioned all he tried to regain control of the falling piece of metal that was suppose to keep them safe.

"It must be my brother. He would have added a protective wall around his hiding spot. It must be impossible to see with the naked eye. His magic has definitely improved." Thor boomed from his seat in the back of the Quinjet.

"Clint, now would be a good time to get back to a safer altitude." Natasha growled as she held herself steady against the walls.

"I'm working on it. We need a way to soften the landing if I can't get this bird in the air again." Clint kept his eyes straight forward. He didn't seem to be panicked either which was probably why he was behind the wheel.

No one noticed but Loki's magic must have weakened for a second because green took over Steve's vision like before as he began to experience another memory.

" _Actually he's the boss. I just pay for everything, design everything, make everyone look cooler."_

 _Tony stood up from the seat in the Quinjet and continued past Steve, giving the blonde a quick glance as if he wanted to say something else. Instead the genius smiled and sped walked away leaving Steve to question what that was about._

The memory was cut short as someone's screaming shook Steve out of his thoughts.

"Everyone hold on!" Natasha yelled as she closed her eyes and braced for impact.

Everything went dark as they crashed into the ground, the sight causing an amused grin to creep on a certain God's mischievous face. Loki then walked towards a small room where Tony was kept floating in the air by green magic, trapped in a deep sleep and completely unaware that his family was in trouble and quite possibly never coming to his rescue.


	12. Parasites

_**Present**_

The walls of the cave that surrounded Tony started to flicker. As if they were holograms losing their power. A loud ringing filled the small area that was now what Tony considered his new living arrangements, seeing as it had been a whole three hours since Loki had set up a new past for the genius to suffer through. With the time Tony has spent waiting for more torture, was able to calculate the time he remained in the cave even with the ringing causing a headache. Now with the cave's metaphorical wallpaper tearing at the seams, it could be concluded that Loki was either playing a new game or he was distracted by an outside force. Even a God can't control all magic at once without struggle. Loki was no exception.

Either way, trick or no trick, Tony knew this was his chance to save himself. Since it seemed no one else was coming for him.

 _ **Three Hours Ago**_

Smoke bellowed for the crash site of the Quinjet that once held the Avengers. Flames cackled on trees that were unlucky enough to have been hit by the debris that went flying once the means of transportation hit the ground. Somewhere in the distance, the Hulk's roar bellowed.

Buried in the ground, half way, laid the reflective metal that was Captain America's shield. A few feet away a well bruised Hawkeye stirred.

"Jet? Down. Team? Down. Motivation to do this job? Waaaay down."

A slight rattle in the archer's throat was noticeable as he spoke. With a wince, Clint pushed his weight forward until he was off his back and sitting with legs straight out in front of him.

"Clint! Are you injured?"

With eyes like a hawk, (no pun intended) Clint spun around to see Thor limping towards him. Hammer nowhere in sight.

"Thor you're hurt. Let me look at it." the assassin shifted his weight to his knees in attempt to stand. The more he moved the more he noticed a sharp pain in his lower abdomen. With a hiss he sat back down and lifted his shirt to reveal a shard of metal lodged in his right side.

"Could be worse. Could've been a paper cut."

With a raised eyebrow, Thor examined the wound. "Paper can cause damage worse than metal? Is that why paper beats stone in your hand to hand combat game you're so fond of when you want the remote?"

"Not exactly buddy. Just trying to brighten the mood. How's your leg?" Clint winced when Thor lightly touched to metal.

"It will heal. Much quicker than you I believe. I might know of some Asgardian remedies that can assist you. I would need the help of Dr. Banner to create them. Can you wait til we find him?"

Clint nodded with a rather unnecessary amount of speed. "Yea buddy. Just help me up and maybe we can all meet up at the main wreckage of the Quinjet. That's what the others would do I assume."

"I am positive the others are alright." Thor beamed.

At that moment, the sound of the Hulk's roar shook the trees near by.

"I am positive the most of the others are alright." Thor said less enthusiastically.

Blood boiled. Not from rage but from concern. Where were the others? Were they okay? One question stuck out to Bruce more than the others.

 _Did I hurt them when we crashed?_

Green eyes scanned the sight before him, as the Hulk tried to control his thoughts before he actually hurt someone he cared about.

With a small sigh resembling a wounded puppy, the monster of rage continued towards the crash sight of the Quinjet, more scared than angry.

 _ **Present**_

"Come on. Do it again. Please. Just prove I'm not crazy."

An unknown amount of time had passed by as Tony pushed his hands flat against the wall of the cave, begging it to flicker away again so he could try to push his way through. Several things could go wrong with this mediocre plan. One, he could phase right through only for the wall to fix itself while he was halfway through. Clint would laugh at the sight of Tony with his torso and up on one side of a wall and his ass and legs hanging out the other.

Risk number two, was that Tony had imagined the whole ordeal and that could only mean he was stuck here forever and losing his mind at the same time. The fear of losing something as important as his mind cause him to release a shaky breath in hopes to rid himself of the thought.

So that left him with risk number three. The wall was actually giving out and very soon Tony would escape only to find everything he knew and loved gone. Part of him tried to believe his team was okay and coming to save him, but he couldn't shake the feeling that they weren't trying to find him or that they couldn't find him because they were in trouble.

Concern did not do Tony's heart justice. He was tired. Sick of feeling this way. He knew that the chance of him dying here was high, but his mind wouldn't let him accept it and rest without telling him he had to continue. He had to move forward. He had to be there in case his team needed him more that he needed them.

And so with tired sigh, Tony sat indian style in the middle of the cave, shoulders hunched forward, as he stared at the wall in front of him with a blank stare that sadly showed that for once; the great Tony Stark's mind wasn't racing a mile a minute. Instead it was so damned focused on waiting for that wall to fall.

 _ **Two Hours Ago**_

"Nat! Nat, look at me. Keep your eyes open. I'm going to get you out of here." Steve's voice echoed through the walls of the caved in Quinjet. Deep in the cockpit of said means of transportation, layer the usually calm Black Widow, who was sporting a fever induced sweat while her right arm remained pinned between two unknown parts of the metal around them.

"Find… Thor." Natasha muttered for about the fifth time in between deep shaky breaths.

"No. I'm not leaving you."

Steve spoke as Captain America to make her believe he wasn't worried but of course she could see right through that and tell he was panicking.

"You can't… get me out… need Thor."

Steve raised an eyebrow, unsure as to why she didn't think he could handle bending metal. He had the serum. Sure it would be a workout but he knew he could get her free.

"Nat listen to me. I'm going to climb in there and get you out. Just hold on."

Despite the pain she was in, Natasha couldn't let Steve's stubbornness get him stuck too.

"It's not… what you think. It's Thor… the hammer…"

"The hammer?" Steve looked down as if the ground held the answers. Slowly he pieced together what his friend was trying to say.

Natasha's arm wasn't wedged between parts of the Quinjet. Thor's hammer had landed on her and only Thor could get her out. But, to find Thor, Steve would have to leave her alone.

"I might not be able to get you out, but I can't leave you. I won't have you be stuck alone when you need help." Steve mumbled sincerely, his voice wavering slightly.

"We don't… we don't have time… Tony needs.." a small grunt of pain echoed from the death trap Natasha resided in.

What felt very similar to an asthma attack, nearly knocked Steve into a sitting position. Panic began to crawl at him from all sides as he finally thought about having to choose between two people he cared about.

"I can't do this." Steve whispered so Natasha couldn't hear. He wasn't sure if he was referring to choosing who to save first or just being Captain America in general.

A memory flashed through the blonde's mind, without the help of Loki's magic.

" _I know guys with none of that worth ten of , I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."_

 _Steve didn't notice Tony's eye twitch before he forced his rebuttal._

" _I think I would just cut the wire."_

 _Tony couldn't forget the way Steve flashed a snarky smile at him._

" _Always a way out... You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero."_

 _The last six words rang in Steve's ears. Regret growing with each chime of the metaphorical clock._

 _Did Tony know he didn't mean what he said that day?_

" _A hero? Like you? You're a lab rat Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle!"_

 _How could Steve have been so content with Tony's rage towards him? Why didn't he care if he hurt Tony that day? Why did he care now? What changed?_

"Nat, I'm sorry, but I'll be right back with help. Just hold on." Steve struggled to get up slightly, as he sprinted towards the unknown.

With heavy eyes, Natasha scanned her surroundings. Blood stained her right arm. She was technically sitting on the wall, on account of the way the Quinjet landed. Off to her left lay Clint's bow and three arrows. At that moment, her mind concluded she could reach an arrow with her foot if needed. Whether the reason was to fend of enemies, or freeing herself to escape. Even though her stomach flipped at the thought, she knew she could survive without her arm if that was what would save her in the long run. After all she's suffered worse pain, she hoped.

Natasha eyed the arrow with concern and determination, unaware of the tired and now less green Bruce Banner making his way towards the crash site.

 _ **One Hour Ago**_

"I guess you could say I'm your backpack now." Clint wheezed slightly as he mumbled into Thor's ear.

It was a funny picture, despite the injuries the had to fight through. Thor treading towards the smoke in the sky, hopefully caused by their means means of transportation, while Clint was hanging like a wet towel over the God's back. His side had stopped bleeding moments ago, but the amount of blood he lost after Thor removed the metal intrusion was really taking a toll on the archer.

Thor ignored the soreness in his leg, while he held his missing friends shield in one hand. It was obvious he was unsure of how to wield said defensive weapon as his skin crawled for his hammer. The only problem was, he didn't know where it was and didn't want to risk causing damage by summoning it. He was also sure if he called for it's assistance, Loki could use that to find him and his injured teammate.

A small chuckle left the God's throat as he listen to Clint babble on. "You are most fun Clint. Even while injured, you keep spirits high. It is no wonder Dr. Banner calls you a clown."

Clint's scowl resembled something between confusion and agreement. Thor knew he wasn't fully aware of his surroundings.

After a few beats of silence, Clint perked up slightly. Almost like a cat when they hear their food being poured.

"Something's in the trees.."

"Yes, possibly a rodent or a fellow bird." Thor grinned at his words.

"Why do you all think I'm friends with birds? Forget, I'm serious. Something is out there. It sounds big."

Thor chuckled, amused by Clint's rambling. "Bigger than me? Worry not Hawkeye, I am one of the mightiest around. Nothing shall harm us-"

"Is Thor praising himself again?"

Both men turned their heads, Clint slower that Thor, to have eyes land on a scratched up yet uninjured, Captain America. He smiled back at them, noticeably out of breath.

"No time to reminisce, Nat needs your help." Steve turned to show them they way back.

"I'll save you Natasha!" Clint shouted as he flailed his free arm about.

Steve rolled his eyes only to have them freeze on his shield. "That's a sight for sore eyes."

"Yes, I believe this suits you better. Have you any idea on the location of the Mjölnir?"

"Sadly yes. We have to hurry." Steve fell back into his Captain America act as he spun around and sprinted towards Natasha's location.

Thor turned his head to raise an be eyebrow at Clint. "What did he mean sadly?"

"I guess we better find out."

 _ **Present**_

Brown eyes fought to stay open as Tony remained staring at the walls of his cave. That was what he called it now. His cave. It was no one else's. Except maybe Yinsen. Other than him, no one but Tony suffered as much as Tony has in this very cave, whether it was was physically, mentally, or as of now magically. Three hours had passed by, unknowingly to the genius, and he had still not moved from his spot. His legs were numb, his skin was pale, his lips were so chapped from dehydration they were often bleeding, and he had become noticeably thinner from lack of food.

' _How long have I been here?'_

A shaky hand scratched at his unkempt facial hair. Is fingernails felt uncomfortable on his skin because of the length that had been added to them over time.

While staring forward, Tony began to wonder if he had actually been here long enough for his physical appearance to take a negative impact or was it Loki's magic tricking him. Slowly, Tony realized he was thinking again and shook his head, wiping away his thoughts to only focus on the wall. He knew he looked crazy, but he needed out. For some reason he couldn't wait to see Steve.

' _I hope Steve and the others are okay.'_

Why Steve was his main concern, Tony would never understand, but for now he knew he had to clear his mind again. Only thinking about that wall and forcing himself to stay awake because he just couldn't shake the feeling that the next time he closed his eyes would be when he lost himself, and he couldn't let that happen because then the team wouldn't need him anymore.

Fighting off tears, Tony hugged himself to fend off the cold with a sigh. Eyes locked onto the wall once again as he waited for anything to happen. With nothing left to do but wait, the genius rested his chin on his knees and hummed to himself, the words to a song came out his lips in a subtle whisper, as his eyes slowly began to flutter shut.

"Little clowns… you might just turn yourself around..."


End file.
